Legacies
by luckylucyheartfilia
Summary: We're all stories in the end. We keep moving forward through life, always turning the page and writing in pen that we can't erase. But if we really are nothing more than stories, then we should make ours a good one. Legacies aren't names on tombstones. They're written in the hearts and minds of others and the stories they share about you. — XY novelization, KalosShipping.
1. Prologue

_"The X and Y represent the x axis and y axis. The world holds people with all sorts of ways of thinking, and you can get a sense that they exist in different dimensions. But if you think of them as people who think on the x axis and people who think on the y axis— horizontal and vertical axes— then they intersect somewhere. We may think differently, but we all live on the same planet, so everyone eats, sleeps and goes about their business day after day just like everyone else." — Junichi Masuda_

* * *

**Legacies**

**by luckylucyheartfilia**

**[ Prologue ]**

* * *

A long time ago, there was a land that was ruled by a peaceful king. The land was abundant with life and Pokémon, mysterious creatures who lived with humans in harmony.

However, one day a terrible strife began in the south, and within a short time the entire country was at war. Pokémon fought each other to the death, and the land was covered in blood. The king's beloved Pokémon left to fight, but it never returned.

The king was grieved by the destruction the war had wrought on his people and country, and searched desperately for a way to end it. He sought help from the god of life, who listened to his pleas and saved the region from being destroyed. The earth was restored, and peace regained. However, this was not enough for the king, because his beloved Pokémon was gone.

He created a machine that would bring back the Pokémon, and it worked. However, his anger still burned fiercely, and he swore to seek revenge on those who had taken away his Pokémon's life. He turned the machine into the ultimate weapon, and with it he destroyed the region and its inhabitants.

When his Pokémon discovered what he had done, it was horrified that so many lives had been exchanged for its own. It left the king, and hadn't been seen since.

The god of life was disgusted by the king's actions. They cursed him to live forever, never being able to see his Pokémon again until he fixed his mistakes. The god of life then retreated to the smoldering remains of a forest to the south of the region, and there they used the last of their energy to once again restore life to the land. Drained of their power, they went into a deep sleep and became a titanic-sized tree deep in the Santalune Forest.

The king is said to still wander that land today, searching for his old friend in eternal vain.

* * *

-:-

* * *

"...As the story was passed down, so were a few other tales about the god of life. There's a common trend in Kalos' history. Once every millennium or so, a war rips Kalos apart at the seams and destroys the land. The bloodshed has always been ended by a deity who restores the region back to life. It's possible that they're all the god of life from the Hundred Year War. Of course, they are merely rumours, but they're interesting ones, are they not?"

The sound of pencils scratching against paper was the only noise in the room, until someone raised their hand.

"Professor Sycamore?"

"Yes, Monsieur Floris?"

"Why is history so important?"

Augustine Sycamore glanced up, looking around the room and watching his four students carefully. They were arranged in a little half circle of sorts, in the middle of the room facing his desk, which he sat on top of while he spoke. The kids looked various levels of bored, but he knew that they were all paying attention to him. He straightened up, chuckling as he turned his sight back to one of his three male pupils, who sat on the far left lightly strumming his fingers on his desk.

"I was hoping one of you would ask that," he said cheerfully. "The answer is, Tierno,_ learning_."

The boy wrinkled his nose. Even the short ginger-haired boy next to him, who had been hanging onto Sycamore's every word and jotting down notes as fast as he could, gave the man an odd look. The other two, a dark-haired boy and the only girl, stared at him blankly.

"Which of you four believe that the king's actions were right?" When none of them raised their hands, he continued. "So, do you believe what he did was wrong?"

The girl bit her lip, thinking about it. "Well, I dunno. I'd be hurt too if I lost my Pokémon. But that doesn't mean he had to kill everyone!"

Sycamore nodded. "And what about from the king's standpoint? He certainly believed that what he did was right. Yet from his Pokémon's viewpoint, he did a horrible deed and it left him. You see, not all opinions are black and white. There will come a time when you'll leave home and explore the world. You'll meet many new people and many new Pokémon, but most importantly you'll find many different thoughts.

"First, accept the ways of living and thinking that sometimes conflict with your own and think about what's really important- this will truly broaden your horizons." There was a brief moment of silence as those words sunk into the kids' heads. They jumped as Sycamore's phone began ringing, and started packing up their things when the professor indicated that class was over.

"This is Professor Sycamore, may I ask who is speaking? Ah, Madame Bellamy." One of the students, the dark-haired boy, looked up. Sycamore noticed him watching, and waved him over as he talked. "Fantastique! That's wonderful to hear. Have you told her about it yet? ...Well, I'm sure she'll be very excited about it. Yes, yes. Au revoir, Madame Bellamy." He hung up and turned to his student.

"Calem, you've been chosen to give Mademoiselle Bellamy the news."

"Mademoiselle Summers," the boy automatically corrected, earning a raised eyebrow from his teacher. When he didn't elaborate, Sycamore shrugged.

"Well, Mademoiselle Summers then. Madame Bellamy specifically asked for you to deliver the news, which I'm sure you're pleased with." He smiled knowingly at the boy, who left without another word.

Alone in silence, Sycamore stood and turned to his window to watch his pupils run down the street. They were still so young and naive, not having experienced the world beyond southern Kalos. He could think of no better choice for the project, however, and knew there was none.

He sighed, looking towards the north of the city, where the Prism Tower stood tall and magnificent against the skyline. Lumiose was a city of light, and it was a magnificent place at nighttime. The Tower stood as a beacon of hope for Kalos, and its light could be seen from every city in the region.

It would be terrifying if that light were snuffed out.

"A storm is coming."

* * *

_this was interesting to write bc im pretty sure professor sycamore got through life on looks alone_

_anyways, welcome to legacies! im nanami / kiki / sakura / sacchan (you can call me any of the four, it doesnt really matter!), and this is a loose adaption of pokemon x! im still a little unsure about this because i havent written anything in a long time hehe_

_i hope youll stick around for the ride! uwu  
_


	2. Chapter 1

_"I do believe in the power of story. I believe that stories have an important role to play in the formation of human beings, that they can stimulate, amaze and inspire their listeners." - Hayao Miyazaki_

* * *

**Legacies**

**by luckylucyheartfilia**

**[ Chapter 1 ]**

* * *

Sunlight softly trickled over the rooftops, flooding slowly into the tiny town of Vaniville. Its residents began to rouse themselves from slumber, ready to start a new day. Wild Fletchling began their morning song as curtains were pulled back and doors were opened, the smell of breakfast cooking starting to fill the air. Adults began to set up tables as children met up with each other and continued to play from where they left off the day before.

It was another day of tradition that hadn't been broken in decades: Vanivillers were famous in the Kalos region for waking early and eating breakfast together in the town square. With such a tiny population, this was incredibly easy and there wasn't anything particularly unpleasant about it, unless you didn't really like waking up early.

Serena Summers, unfortunately for all who ever had to wake her, was one of those people.

"Rise and shine, kiddo!" Grace Bellamy flung open the curtains above Serena's bed, not sympathetic in the least when Serena cringed away from the sunlight and buried herself further in her blanket nest. The woman frowned down at the girl when she still refused to budge. "Se-ree-naaa," she whined, shaking the girl. "You promised to meet Calem after breakfast, remember?"

The girl murmured something in her sleep that was muffled by her pillow, but Grace knew her well enough to tell it was probably something along the lines of _"go away"_ or _"five more hours."_ The woman growled, unable to believe how awful her daughter's sleeping habits were. Back during her Rhyhorn racing days, she woke herself up around four to train, but Serena would never willingly wake up before twelve if she could. Truth be told, she wasn't that surprised, as Serena reminded her of a close friend of hers who had very similar habits.

"Serena Lucy Summers, you better get up right now!" There was silence again, and with each passing second Grace felt like throwing a tantrum. Finally, Serena rolled over and stared up at her tiredly. She opened her mouth to speak, and for a foolish moment Grace felt hopeful. Sadly, the small bud of hope was quickly squashed when Serena spoke.

"No."

Grace's howl of frustration echoed throughout the small town, rudely disrupting the Fletchling's song.

An hour later, Serena found herself almost asleep in her breakfast without any recollection of how she got there. At the next table over, her mother was chatting away suspiciously cheerfully with Angelique Victor, completely ignoring the girl. A few of the other Vanivillers snickered and waved at her when they noticed she was conscious. They had quickly grown fond of the two newcomers since their arrival three months before, and they found Serena's sleeping patterns hilarious.

She finished her breakfast and stumbled back sleepily to her house, only managing to make it back in one piece with the help of a few of the neighbouring Pokémon who made sure that she didn't trip into one of her neighbour's rose bushes. When she entered her yard, she glanced over at the house next door, wondering if her neighbour-friend was home. He had promised to meet up with her around breakfast so he could introduce her to his other friends, but even though she had seen his mother there, he was nowhere to be found. Usually he'd bring her some food to wake her up whenever she slept in, which was pretty much everyday, but today Grace had been a bit more vicious in her attempt to wake her up and eliminated the need for that.

She held back a yawn as she glided over to her mother's Rhyhorn, who had opened his eyes to watch over her when she tiptoed into the yard.

"G'morning, Orion." Serena collapsed to her knees in front of the Pokémon, the yawn escaping from her lips. "Has Calem stopped by yet?" She shuffled closer to the family pet, eyes fluttering as her head dipped a bit. Orion gave an exasperated yet fond snort as the girl went limp without warning, dutifully staying still while she used his head as a pillow and eventually closed his eyes again.

Serena had probably been asleep for about fifteen minutes when Orion picked up a loud chatter coming from the Vaniville Pathway. The gates to the village swung open with a loud creak, and Orion opened one eye slowly as the laughter and footsteps got closer to Serena's yard.

The conversation was mostly one-sided, from a brunette who could easily pass off as a Vaniviller by how happy she was so early in the day. Her words were loud and cheerful as she skipped over to the entrance of the yard. Her companion pulled her back as Orion growled at her. Serena stirred at the sound, blinking wearily in the bright sunlight.

Orion did recognize the newcomer's friend, and made a noise of welcome even as he eyed the new girl critically. The boy made a gesture for the stranger to stay where she was, and moved forward into the yard, his stride relaxed as Serena rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he said, sitting down next to her. Serena yawned again, before smiling blearily at him.

"Hi Calem." She tilted her head slightly, noticing that her neighbour had a new outfit. He was wearing a blue and white jacket, jeans, and boots, and the colour scheme suited his dark hair and eyes. "You look nice."

"You do too." Serena beamed at him, proud of her creation. She always had an interest in fashion, and had taught herself how to sew for the purpose of making her own clothing. This outfit was one of her favourites, something she had finished the night before. The dress fell to her knees, a soft baby pink and decorated with lace at the end. Over it, she wore a white shrug which had a large white bow at the back, and to match the outfit she wore long white socks and pink mary-janes.

Calem poked her cheek, and she let out a small squeak as her train of thought was broken.

"You didn't even listen to the rest of what I said, did you?" he asked teasingly. "Well, I'm not surprised. It's not even 8:30, I can't believe that you're actually awake." Before Serena could stutter out an angry but weak comeback in defense of her awful sleeping habits, the presence of a stranger at the entrance distracted her.

"Caaaleeem," the girl huffed, crossing her arms. "Stop being selfish and let me meet Serena now! I waited three whole months for you to introduce us! _Three months!_"

"Do you want to be gutted by her Rhyhorn?" Calem retorted, although he did pat Orion's head and promised him that the girl was a friend. Orion snorted derisively, but put his head back down and closed his eyes. The moment he did, the girl skipped into the yard and plopped herself down on the grass next to them. Serena's smile weakened as Calem gave her a concerned look, but she turned to the stranger and gave her a small welcoming wave.

The brunette leaned forward, a huge grin on her face. "Hi Serena! I'm Shauna, congratulations on making Mr. Grumpy Pants smile!" Calem reached over and flicked her forehead, smirking at the sound she made and taking Shauna's attention off Serena for a short time. Serena took the opportunity to take in Shauna's appearance and calm down.

Childish pigtails curled towards the girl's face, a style that complimented her despite its oddness, and she wore clothes adorned with bows to further emphasize how young she looked. She couldn't have been older than fourteen or so, and her eyes were a piercing shade of green that reflected her innocence. She seemed like a sweet girl, if a little too loud and excitable, and despite her reservations Serena found herself liking the brunette already.

At some point during this examination, Shauna must have realized that Serena was nervous, as she lowered her voice when she sat back down on her heels.

"It's super nice to meet you, Serena!" Shauna told her, giving her a reassuring smile. "I hope we can become really good friends! There are two other boys in our group, so it's great to have another girl besides me!"

Calem nudged Serena lightly, and she smiled back shyly at the pigtailed girl._ She isn't that bad_, Serena mused, hoping Calem's other two friends would be the same. Shauna grinned widely, sensing that Serena was starting to warm up to her, and stood.

"Anyway, guess what!" Shauna exclaimed. "Today we're getting our own Pokémon, and you can too, if you wanna!"

"I've already told her, Shauna," Calem said, looking more at ease now that Serena was more comfortable around the zealous girl. "You go on ahead and tell Trevor and Tierno that we're on our way."

"Alright!" Shauna agreed easily, jumping up and down. "Don't take too long, though, you know Trevie hates waiting!" Without waiting for a response, she dashed past the gates and down the path to Aquacorde Town. Calem stood and dusted himself off before offering his hand to Serena.

She patted Orion's head one last time before accepting Calem's hand, letting him pull her up.

"Come on, neighbour," Calem said with a grin as he tugged her over to the gates. Relieved that he wasn't facing her, she tried to hide her blush at their still entwined hands. "Let's go get our first Pokémon!"

* * *

-:-

* * *

Route 1 was a short walk between Vaniville and Aquacorde. The locals from both towns took advantage of its small size and lack of wild Pokémon, planting trees and flowers on either side of the paved path before dubbing it the Vaniville Pathway. Neither towns had much to offer in terms of tourist attractions, but in springtime the path burst with colour and fragrance as the flowers began to bloom, and it wasn't uncommon to have a few visitors interested in admiring the route.

Serena took in the scenery as she and Calem walked side by side down the sunny path in companionable silence. Left alone to her own thoughts, she wondered about Calem's friends and how they'd feel about her. Judging from the five minutes that they had known each other, Shauna was more than happy to have her join the group, but that didn't necessarily mean that their other two friends would as well. She sighed inwardly, starting to regret her agreement to Calem's idea.

It had been a while since Serena's family had stayed in one place for so long. Before Grace retired, she and Serena were constantly moving around for her races. Never having a proper home wasn't a huge misfortune, as there were so many places to see and Serena was never bored, but it was lonely. She had always been rather shy, and it only got worse the more she was moved around. A lot of the people she had hung out with had just wanted to meet her mom, and those who had been genuine she had to leave behind.

She was grateful that Calem took her under his wing and wanted her to join his group of friends. They met the day Serena and Grace arrived in Vaniville. His mother claimed he had been watching them from his window as she snuck up behind him, and she had startled him so badly that he actually fell out the window and into the shrubs dividing their two yards. Serena had to fish him out with Orion's help and his mother crying as she apologized frantically from above. Serena remembered panicking because Grace and the movers were laughing, her new neighbours were watching and _a cute boy fell from the sky oh my god._

As soon as she had saved Calem from the horrors of landscaping, she fled to her room and left a still snickering Grace to handle the incident. Calem then decided to be the most obnoxious, stubborn, nosy, inconsiderate boy Serena ever had the displeasure to meet.

He had knocked on their door every morning, asking a positively gleeful Grace if Serena wanted to hang out. She finally gave in a week later, throwing the door open just as a surprised Calem was about to knock. Her desire to punch that smug grin off his face was stronger than her shyness and instinct to run away.

As it turned out, Calem was also the sweetest, kindest, empathetic and genuine boy Serena ever had the pleasure to meet.

"Are you okay?"

Serena twitched as his voice broke her out of her memories.

"A little better. Shauna is nice," she admitted, thinking back to how the pigtailed girl seemed in tune to how she was feeling. "I was just thinking."

Calem raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Anyway, you told me about how we were going to get Pokémon from Professor Sycamore for a project, but you didn't tell me how I was chosen to join said project, or what exactly the project is."

"I made a request for you to join me and the other students, and Sycamore talked to your mom."

That was something she had never heard about. She wondered how long her mother had been hiding the news from her.

"You'll learn about it later, but it means I'll have to leave home and travel for a long time. I didn't want to leave you alone in Vaniville. You're so shy, you probably wouldn't make any other friends."

Serena bristled. "I could if I wanted to!" She knew he was right though; there was an at least five-year age gap between them and everyone else in Vaniville. Calem had forced his way into her life, and he wasn't planning on leaving any time soon.

Unfortunately for her, Calem just shook his head, dropping the conversation with a lazy smile laced with fondness. In the end, Serena was grateful for his intervention, and both knew that well.

"HEY! Serena, Calem! Over here!"

They had finally reached Aquacorde Town, and found Shauna waving at them frantically in front of the town's only café. She was jumping up and down on a chair which wobbled precariously as a waiter and short ginger-haired boy hastily tried to coax her off of it. Off to the side was a Swanna, who looked embarrassed as it watched the pigtailed girl.

Shauna finally sat down at the circular table as Calem trailed over to them, tugging a hesitant Serena behind him. The short boy slid into the chair on Shauna's right, turning to the contrastingly larger teen next to him. The other boy was tapping his feet along to the beat of the music from speakers set up next to the café, and he looked up as Calem took the seat next to him, leaving an empty space between him and Shauna for Serena to take.

"Alright, introductions," said Calem, not even bothering to say hi to his other friends as he turned to Serena. He gestured to the large boy directly to his left, who gave a thumbs up and wink to Serena in welcome. "Serena, meet Tierno Floris. He has the sickest moves this part of Kalos, and he wants to make the best Pokémon dance team in the region. His dad owns this café, although they don't seem to be getting much business."

Tierno snorted, raising an eyebrow at Calem. "Are you kidding me? Aquacorde functions in a completely different way from Vaniville. Almost no one in town is awake before noon."

"I should have moved to Aquacorde," Serena sulked, trying to figure out how she arrived at breakfast that morning. The others snickered at Calem's fake affronted expression.

The ginger haired boy reached across the table to extend a hand to Serena, which she shook politely.

"I'm Trevor Appleby," he said quietly, and Serena could tell he was someone she'd get along with right away. "It's nice to meet you, Serena."

"Trevor's a child genius. He's also as shy as you are, so you can bond over your inept social skills. Also, don't call him short unless you want to lose a limb or two." Trevor made a move to jump up and strangle him, and Shauna and Tierno calmly pushed him back into his chair without even a glance at him.

Calem was irritatingly amused as Serena pushed his shoulder with a frown. "Guys, this is Serena Summers. She's too nice to me for her own good, is actually really scary when she's mad and sleeps an average of fourteen hours a day."

Shauna threw a crumpled napkin at his face, booing.

"And you're Calem Victor, who isn't allowed to do introductions anymore," she told him, and Serena found herself nodding in agreement with her new friends. Calem shook his head, pleased that Serena was getting along with the others.

"Anyway," Tierno said, putting on an official air. "Now that Calem's horrible descriptions are over with, we need a new nickname. I vote Reenie."

"Riri sounds cuter," Shauna declared immediately. "She's a Riri."

"No, it's too cutesy. Don't you think she has an elegant air around her?"

"How is Reenie elegant?" Shauna fired back. "Riri."

Tierno stood, towering over the tiny girl. "She's definitely a Reenie!"

"No way!" Shauna yelled, shoving her chair back and climbing up on it so she'd be taller than Tierno. Turning her head slightly, Serena could see the waiter from before standing by the café doors and glaring at Shauna. "She's totally a Riri! Trevie, what do you think?"

Trevor just about jumped five feet into the air when Shauna focused her glare on him. "What? Shauna, do you really want me to nickname someone I just met?" Shauna just gave him a_ 'well, duh'_ look, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. "I mean, if I have to, Seri is nice?" Shauna looked as if Trevor had stabbed her, and he cringed. The three turned to Serena, who panicked and looked at Calem. He shrugged, not too concerned about his friends' intensity over nicknames.

"Y-you can call me whatever you want, I guess?" she stammered out, growing increasingly uncomfortable under their gazes. "You don't have to use the same one."

"I'm calling you Riri!" the smaller girl exclaimed, jumping down from her chair and doing a little victory dance. For a second, Serena was afraid she'd fling herself over the table to hug her. Shauna actually did look like she was considering it, but she glanced over at Calem and settled with grinning brightly at her new friend. As terrified as she was, Serena found herself beginning to relax as she returned a tiny smile.

"It's good to know you guys have your priorities in order, but Tierno, I think you're forgetting—" Calem was interrupted by Tierno shooting up from his chair and digging through his pocket.

"I just remembered; Shauns, my dad wanted me to give you this recipe for your moms to try out." Serena turned to Calem, asking silently if it was a regular occurrence for their conversations to be derailed. Calem sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"Nuh-uh, no way," Shauna said instantly, pushing the envelope he offered her away from her. "They like using us as test dummies, and not everything they make turns out good! Sophie has a cast-iron stomach, but the last time they had a baking spree, Renée, Roxy and I had to hide out at Trevie's house for _three days!"_

"Roxy braided my hair," Trevor said quietly, shivering. "Annalise and Aunt Monique will never let me live it down." Serena fidgeted, trying not to giggle at the mental image for Trevor's sake.

"As fascinating as it is to discuss how many people the Fairweather family have scarred for life," Calem cut in again, looking like he had been expecting for this to happen, "We're getting our first Pokémon today, right?"

Tierno started, face flushed when he realized how far off track he had gotten. He picked a backpack off the ground and unzipped it, pulling out a red case with a glass cover. Three shiny Poké Balls were clearly visibly inside, and Shauna let out a long 'ooh' of admiration.

"Right, here are the three starters!" Tierno proclaimed proudly. "Trevs and I already chose ours, and you guys get a choice of Froakie, Fennekin or Chespin!" Pressing a button on the side of the case, the lid sprang open and the Poké Balls opened simultaneously, releasing the creatures inside in a flash of light, a small explosion of confetti, and an 8-bit version of the Kalosian national anthem.

Serena shut her eyes at the flash, and over the music she could hear the other four muttering loud complaints about Professor Sycamore's lack of a social life. When they all recovered, they turned their attention back to the starters, who didn't seem to be affected by how they were sent out.

She was immediately drawn to the pale gold fox in the center, who was much more calmer than the other two starters, a frog who was hopping excitedly and a hedgehog who seemed half asleep. The fox held itself proudly, red eyes assessing the three kids before locking sight with Serena. It regarded her for a moment, before showing what looked like a small smile.

"The blue frog is Froakie, the gold fox is Fennekin, and the green and brown hedgehog is Chespin," Tierno explained. "Fennekin's the only girl."

"Alright, Riri, you can choose first!" Shauna chimed happily. Even so, Serena could see her watching the Chespin intently as he fell over and didn't try to get back up. Calem seemed to be doing the same thing with the Froakie, and she relaxed, glad that she wouldn't be disappointing either of them.

"Fennekin, would you like to go with me?" The fire-type seemed almost smug as she sauntered forward to Serena, jumping up to her shoulder and settling herself there. She briefly wondered if she bit off more than she could chew by choosing the starter that acted as confident as Calem did. Her doubts were cleared when the fox nuzzled her cheek fondly, and she found herself smiling at her first Pokémon.

Tierno and Trevor were the only ones who noticed this exchange, as Calem and Shauna were still fixated on the other two starters, and they smiled at her as Tierno handed her a Poké Ball before turning to Shauna.

"Shauns, Froakie or Ches—"

"Chespin!" Shauna had already lunged forward to grab the spiky nut Pokémon, and was now hugging it fiercely. Amazingly, it didn't seem to be short of air or annoyed that its new trainer had it in a death grip. Evidently, it was a match made in heaven. "Oh my gosh you're so cute oh my gosh you're so cute oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh—"

Calem turned to Froakie, looking satisfied with how things worked out. The Froakie croaked, jumping onto his head. "Nice to meet you, Froakie. Thanks to you, I can finally become a real trainer."

"Are you guys going to nickname your Pokémon?" Tierno asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

"Stella," Serena said instantly, rubbing her starter's head. She could feel the Fennekin straighten up, proud of her new name.

After a little deliberation, Calem said, "Ambroise." His Froakie croaked again, jumping back down onto the table to bump fists with his trainer.

"Cupcake," Shauna said as soon as they all turned to her, only to receive blank stares in response.

"Shauna, are you sure?" Trevor asked tentatively. "Chespin evolves into—"

"Absolutely." Shauna said it so firmly there wasn't any room for arguments. The newly named Chespin didn't seem to mind anyway, so they dropped the subject. Tierno turned expectantly to Trevor, who pulled three red cards from his backpack. He distributed them to Serena, Calem and Shauna, before taking his own out of his bag.

"The very reason we're going on a journey is to complete the Pokédex for Professor Sycamore."

Serena was startled by this information, having heard about the Pokédex Project before. It started years ago, by the famous researcher Professor Oak. The Pokédex was designed as an encyclopedia to record every Pokémon in existence. He had three kids work on completing the original, but one of them went missing and they had been too busy looking for him to keep working on it. Professor Oak then decided to ask the other regions' professors to help out with filling it. There were usually only two or three kids who were chosen to help, and those with the title of Pokédex owner were highly respected.

Well, that explained why Calem said he was going to be away for a long time. _Did Grace actually consent to this?_ Serena wondered, dazed. _I thought she retired so we could be together more often._ Since she had new friends, it didn't bother her that much that her mother was essentially kicking her out of the house, but she still had to wonder what on earth was she was thinking.

Calem nudged her while Trevor recited a long speech about the Pokédex and the responsibilities of an owner. Both Shauna and Tierno had a glassy look in their eyes while Cupcake rolled around on unconcerned on the table. Stella was napping on Serena's shoulder while Ambroise snored loudly on Calem's head. "We should go back to Vaniville and say goodbye to our families. The others will hang around Route 2 for a while so we can all head through Santalune Forest together."

"Alright," Serena whispered back, stroking Stella's head. "Are all five of us going to travel together?"

"I expect the others will split off often, but they'll probably be in the same area, so technically it'll be as a group. Shauna will probably force us to all meet up at every town just so no one gets left behind. I'll stay with you, if you want."

Serena smiled at him. "You want to be like your parents, right? I don't know what I'm going to do yet, and I don't want to slow you down." Calem shook his head, however, shaking Ambroise off his spot. He returned the Froakie back to his Poké Ball before he responded.

"Don't worry," he said easily. "You won't—" Shauna shot up suddenly, effectively cutting off Trevor's speech and waking Tierno.

"Daisy!" she yelped frantically, turning to the Swanna who had been ignored this whole time. "You can go home now!" The Swanna only huffed, spreading her wings and lightly smacking Shauna across the face. The bird Pokémon made an affectionate sound in her throat as she took off into the air and flew north of the town. "That's fascinating, Trevie, but don't you think we should go now? It takes longer to get to Santalune on foot than it does by flying-type."

Trevor looked disappointed that his exposition had been cut short, but he turned to Serena and Calem who were standing and getting ready to return home.

"I take it you two will go back to Vaniville?" he asked as he gestured for Shauna and Tierno to stand too. Shauna scooped Cupcake into her arms and Tierno stretched with a loud yawn. "We'll stay around Route 2 for an hour then, so be quick, okay?" Serena nodded and waved goodbye as they turned to leave.

Before they could go two steps, Shauna yelled, "Hold it right there!"

"Serena, cover your ears," Calem murmured aside to her. This time Shauna really did tackle-hug her, startling Stella awake, before she turned to do the same to Calem. She then twirled around to jump on Tierno and picked Trevor up and swung him around. When she finished, she threw them into a group hug, yelling at the top of her lungs:

"WE'RE FINALLY, FINALLY,_ FINALLY_ POKÉMON TRAINERS!"

* * *

_i write all my fics on my ipod and i didnt realize how long this was until i uploaded it oops_

_i actually hate when people barge into other peoples lives like that, especially if theyre shy and easily made uncomfortable, but i have a friend who did that for me and i guess its kind of endearing in a really irritating way_


	3. Chapter 2

_when youre a kid, its okay to make mistakes. youre still learning.  
_

* * *

**Legacies**

**by luckylucyheartfilia**

**[ Chapter 2 ]**

* * *

"I'm home!"

As Serena shut the door, Grace glanced down the hallway from the living room entrance. Seeing her daughter with a Pokémon on her shoulder made her beam, forgetting all her frustrations from that morning as she quickly went down the hall to greet the pair.

"Welcome back!" she said cheerfully, plucking Stella off Serena's shoulder and ignoring the fire-type's angry growls. "Who's this cutie?"

"Stella. She's a Fennekin," Serena said, frowning when Grace jolted back, nearly dropping her starter. "Grace, are you going to be okay on your own?"

"So you're going to go with Calem, huh?" Grace said, her grin back in place as Serena returned Stella to her Poké Ball. "No need to worry, Angelique said I could come over to eat whenever I'd like!"

"I don't think she'll keep saying that after the first two meals..."

Grace huffed, sensing Serena's worry. "Serena," she said sternly. "I am a fully grown adult who can take care of herself. Seriously, you don't have to worry about—_ Serena!_"

Serena was crouched in the corner, a dark cloud of despair hanging over her. "You're going to burn the house down, or go bankrupt, or starve to death, or get food poisoning, or forget to feed Orion, or invite a wanted criminal into the house—"

"Like you're one to talk!" Grace retorted, stomping her foot and reminding Serena that her mother had the mentality of a five year old. "How are you going to travel if you fall asleep every five minutes?"

"Calem will wake me up when I have to, but Orion will destroy the town if you forget to feed him!" Serena settled down as looked at the wall clock behind her mother. "...I have to leave soon."

Grace shook her head, aggression fading as she opened the hallway closet and took out a pink purse. "This seemed like a good idea at first, but I don't want you to go now." Serena smiled, feeling tears pricking at her eyes as she stepped forward and accepted the bag before she hugged her mother.

"I'll call you whenever I can," she promised. _We've always been like this_, she mused. Sometimes Grace would act like Serena's mother, and sometimes Serena would act like Grace's.

"You better! I'll tell Noah the news." Grace pulled back first, wiping the tears from her eyes before she pushed the girl out the door. "You've grown up so fast. Now go out there and go for broke! Make Els and Chase proud! Don't forget to buy me souvenirs!" She promptly slammed the door shut, ending the heartfelt moment. Serena giggled as she caught herself from stumbling and rubbed her eyes, knowing that was how Grace dealt with sadness.

_She'll be fine_, she told herself. She started towards the street, only to be stopped by Orion, who roared at her. The sound shook the town, disrupting several Fletching perched in a nearby tree and causing them to take off.

"I'll see you later, 'Rion," Serena told the family pet, patting his head. "Take care of Grace, okay?" Orion growled adoringly, shoving her lightly to send her off on her way. She laughed at him, waving goodbye before she turned the corner to meet Calem at the gate.

He was already waiting for her there, Ambroise sitting on his head again and a blue messenger bag over his back. Without saying anything, the two turned to get one last view of Vaniville Town. Neither knew when they'd return, and as exciting as it was to explore Kalos, they were reluctant to leave their hometown. Serena had only lived in the minuscule town for three months, but she still felt strongly attached to it and its residents. She glanced over at Calem, who had grown up in Vaniville and knew everyone in it since birth. Even if he would never say it aloud, he would miss their tiny town ten times more than she would.

"Caaaaleeeem!" a little girl shrieked suddenly, and a blur of pink slammed into Calem's stomach. Calem didn't appear fazed at all.

"Angie? What are you doing?"

Little Angie Victor was Calem's seven-year-old sister. She was a sweet girl with a sunny disposition and gold pigtails to match, and the only indication that she really was Calem's sister was her gray eyes, identical to his in colour. Serena was surprised to see her, since she assumed that Calem would have said goodbye to her when he went home.

Angie pulled back, jumping up and down gleefully before she handed both Calem and Serena a white box. A single silver Poké Ball emblem was emblazoned on top, followed in fancy script by_ 'Leroux.'_

"Aren't these—" Serena started, recognizing the name from TV.

"Holo Casters to commemorate the beginning our your journey," an older, slower voice said merrily. Hobbling up to them was Éléonore Descartes, a tiny, silver-haired lady who dressed in red and still held herself like a queen. Éléonore acted like a grandmother to everyone in Vaniville, and she loved to spoil all of the children. Even the teenagers were no exception, evident by the expensive gifts Serena and Calem held now.

"Madame Descartes, we can't possibly accept these!" Serena protested, knowing perfectly well that Éléonore would refuse any other answer than 'yes.'

"Of course you can, my dear!" Éléonore chimed, Angie giggling beside her. "Everybody in town contributed to purchasing these for you, and it would be rude to reject a gift!" Serena and Calem exchanged looks, before he nodded and placed his box in his bag. Serena reluctantly did the same, thanking the woman for the present.

"Calem! Serena!"

To Serena's surprise, the whole town had shown up to see them. The only two not with them were Grace and Angelique, who were probably sharing a box of tissues and tub of ice cream.

"We came to say goodbye!" Gabrielle said as she and her daughters squished Serena into a hug. Next to them, the Vaniville men were shaking hands with Calem and making sure that he wouldn't let Serena fall asleep in a ditch somewhere.

Clara tugged on Serena's dress, and she knelt down to hug her and pinch her cheeks softly. The other little kids clambered over to pile on top of them, laughing as they tried to get Serena in a group hug. Calem gently pried them off of her, before reaching down to grab her hand and help her stand. The women exchanged wicked grins, which went completely unnoticed by Calem but not at all by Serena, who struggled to hide her Tamato-red face.

"We should get going," he told Serena, before turning to their neighbours who were watching their interactions intently. "We'll be back before you even miss us, everyone. Take care of Angie and Maman for me, and thank you for the present. Pierre, don't let Adélaïde burn down half the town again."

_"That was one time—!"_

"Have fun!"

"Catch a ton of Pokémon!"

"Spend your money wisely!"

"Don't forget to brush your teeth!"

"Send postcards!"

"Use protection!" Olivier hollered after them as they headed down the path, waving goodbye. Éclair shrieked and kicked her cousin in the shin, knocking him down to the ground. "I meant the move Protect!"

"You deserved it," Benjamin said solemnly. "That's going to be their last impression of you for a long time. They'll be gone for months."

"What's protection?" Angie asked, tugging at Dominic's sleeve. He immediately looked over at his twin sister, who shrugged helplessly, eyes wide in horror.

Yeah, Serena would miss Vaniville.

* * *

-:-

* * *

A few hours later, they found themselves lost in Santalune Forest. There was one main trail that curled haphazardly around the trees to Santalune, but Shauna had decided that she wanted a real adventure, not just a boring hour or two on a path brimming with trainers that only owned Scatterbugs and Bidoof. The others decided to follow her just in case something happened, and also because Shauna was reportedly the only one with a sense of direction.

It was when they had reached a clearing that Shauna declared that she wanted to catch a Pikachu. Serena, Calem and Trevor decided to set up camp since they planned to explore the forest that day and reach Santalune the next morning, and when they finished they sat back and watched as Tierno tried to teach Shauna how to capture Pokémon.

A ninth Poké Ball missed their practice target, a Fletchling, followed by a string of apologies as it sailed past the small bird to smack Stella in the head. She barked angrily, spinning around and firing an Ember at Cupcake, who was hastily scooped up by Shauna before it hit. Serena gave Stella a disapproving frown, and the Fennekin had the decency to pretend she was apologetic. Trevor's Charmander, Jasper, jumped down from his trainer's shoulder to give her a high-five.

"Shauns, you actually have to aim," Tierno said, looking down at the only Poké Ball he had left. "Poké Balls don't grow on trees after all."

"You can have it, Tiernie," Shauna sighed, dropping to her knees and hugging Cupcake tightly. "I think it's laughing at me."

It was true. Tierno expanded the last Poké Ball and chucked it at the flying-type, hitting its forehead and capturing it mid-chortle. When he let it out of its capsule, it looked mortified that it had been caught off guard.

"Salsa," Tierno told it, and returned it to the sphere.

"Salsa?" Serena asked Trevor.

"Dance style," he said, shrugging. "His Squirtle is called Shuffle."

"I just want a cute Pikachu," Shauna wailed, lying down on her back. Cupcake patted her cheek.

"Pika?"

The five kids froze, slowly turning to the right. A Pikachu watched them innocently in front of a clump of bushes, eating Aspear berries and seeming completely unconcerned with whatever the stupid humans were doing. There was silence for a few moments, where the trainers and Pikachu simply stared at each other, before Shauna screamed and launched herself at it. The electric-type panicked, sparks flying out of its cheeks before it dived into the underbrush. Shauna and Cupcake disappeared after it, the brunette yelling loudly about how she had to catch it.

"Honestly, Shauna." Trevor rubbed his forehead, looking pained. "We should go after her to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. C'mon, Jasper." His Charmander jumped to his shoulder as Trevor briskly pushed through the bushes. Tierno followed after, calling Shuffle from where he had been playing with Ambroise and wondering aloud if Shauna would remember that she had no Poké Balls. Ambroise sulked before going over to bother Stella, who snapped at him and engaged him in a play fight.

Serena was still in shock over what happened, and Calem tugged on her hair to get her attention. "They'll catch up to her," he assured her. "It'd be bad if we all got separated in there, though, so we should just wait here for them."

She nodded speechlessly, turning back to the campsite. The boys had made a ring of stones for a fire that night, and lugged a few logs for them to sit on. The pair trailed over to them, choosing one at random to sit down on and wait in silence.

"Hey," Calem said suddenly, after maybe five minutes. "Do you remember when you said you'd play piano for—"

"No," she refuted automatically, feeling her cheeks warming in embarrassment at the reminder.

Calem was infuriatingly intelligent, not that anyone would be dumb enough to tell him that, but he had no sense of shame and knew nothing about personal boundaries. Often, whenever she came home from playing with the Vaniville kids, she'd find him in her room looking through her stuff. For instance...

_"Oh, hey Rini,"_ he had said as soon as she had walked through the door. _"You never told me you could play!"_ That was the day her new piano finally arrived, and Calem had the audacity to admire the shininess of it before she could.

Serena squeaked something incoherent as she dropped a stack of books on the ground, spluttering before she regained her ability to speak. _"What are you doing here?"_ she demanded, more focused on the sheer nerve her friend had, _stroking those beautiful ivory keys before she could even see them hhhhhh_ than the fact that her window was definitely closed when she left.

_"Visiting,"_ Calem had said innocently, like he didn't do that _every single day_._ "You'll play something for me, right?"_

Serena then realized that wait a second, that window was definitely closed when she left. Instead of not getting worked up over a musical instrument like she probably should have, Serena decided to shove him out aforementioned window for breaking and entering. Shrubs were how they began their friendship, and shrubs were also going to be how they ended it.

At least, they would have been, but he came crawling back to apologize and she had never been one to hold a grudge anyway. It also didn't help that he had twigs in his hair and it was honestly kind of cute (not that she'd admit it. He didn't need to have his ego inflated any more than it already was.)

Calem hummed in response, not pushing the subject any further. The two waited for the others to return, watching their starters fight in silence.

After twenty minutes or so, there was a rustling sound from the side. Shauna pushed through, sulking as she stomped over to a log and dropped down onto it. Trevor and Tierno followed shortly after, Trevor sighing as he chose a log as far away from Shauna as possible and Tierno's eyes flickering between the two. Their Pokémon scuttled past, joining Ambroise and Stella in running around the clearing in an obvious attempt to get away from Shauna.

Serena studied the scene before her, curious as to what on earth had happened with the Pikachu and cursing her inability to function properly after being surprised. Next to her, Calem watched in silence, seemingly unbothered by Shauna's foul mood.

"Lighten up, Shauns, there are plenty of other Pikachu in this forest," Tierno tried to amend, but Shauna only huffed and kicked the ground grumpily.

"But I wanted that one!" Shauna pouted, standing again. "I'm gonna go look for one of my own! Alone! Actually, Riri, come with me!"

"Wh— S-Shauna! Wait!" Serena protested as Shauna pulled her off her log and out of the clearing before any of the boys could say a word.

A while later, the girls were pushing through the thick forest underbrush, Shauna at the lead and holding a sleeping Cupcake while Stella napped on Serena's shoulder. Half an hour into their fruitless search for a Pikachu, Shauna told Serena that she wasn't really mad at Trevor for catching the Pikachu, and she had something that she wanted to show her. The brunette had never mentioned it being so far off the main trail, though. At this point, all Serena hoped was that they could find their way back to the camp before it got dark.

At the moment, they were walking in silence, asides from the cries of Pokémon and crackling of foliage around them. Shauna seemed to be focused on navigating through the forest, but still Serena wanted to at least try to get to know the other girl better while they had the chance. At last, Serena spoke up timidly.

"Um... Shauna, how did you meet the boys? I-If you don't mind me asking!"

Shauna started, not expecting a question, but she didn't mind answering as she shooed a Caterpie out of the way.

"I only met Calem and Tiernie when Professor Sycamore chose us to be his students, about a year ago," Shauna said. "I've known Trevie for five years, though. Our families are friends, so we see each other a lot." The brunette paused, still not looking back at Serena as she talked. "He told Professor Sycamore about me, and that's how I was picked."

"Calem did the same for me with the Pokédex Project," Serena mused.

"Speaking of Calem..." Shauna glanced back at her, eyebrows waggling. "How did you two meet? You've only known each other for three months, but you seem pretty close, if you know what I mean." Oh god, the eyebrow thing. She had gotten enough of that from Olivier back in Vaniville. Maybe if she was lucky, Shauna would just think that her burning cheeks were because of the hot air being emitted from Stella's ears. Really, really lucky.

"Shrubs," Serena said vaguely, refusing to look at her. "And we're— we're not really—"

Shauna refused to be deterred, though, and nearly tripped over a Pansage while she was looking behind her. "He's acts more comfortable with you than he does with us," she pointed out. "Not to mention he actually refused to introduce you to us up until now, that meanie."

Serena had the feeling that even Shauna would be offended if told that Calem had deliberately avoided introducing them for months because she asked him to. Thankfully, Shauna dropped the conversation as she focused on navigating through the underbrush, leaving Serena alone with her thoughts. The pigtailed girl acted naive, but she definitely wasn't oblivious, and that led to Serena thinking about what she knew about her friends so far.

Shauna was loud, flighty, and always sunny. She appeared to be guided by her emotions, but she wasn't one to be fixated by anger. She poked and prodded, but only with good intentions, and even in spite of her blithe nature, she could tell when she was going too far. She was by no means dumb, but she followed her heart more than her head.

She hadn't had much of a chance to spend time with Trevor and Tierno, but she could still gather bits and pieces of what they were like. Trevor was as quiet as she was, but he was an introvert instead of cripplingly shy. Whenever they managed to get him to talk, he wouldn't stop. Tierno was as goofy and enthusiastic as Shauna, but he seemed to have a stronger hold on his emotions and a more tender side to him.

And then there was Calem...

"Oh, we're here!" Shauna perked up, a bounce in her step again as she bounded forward, stopping Serena from over-thinking as she pulled her out of the bushes. She didn't seem too concerned with the fact that there were twigs sticking out from her bushy pigtails and tiny cuts up and down her arms and legs, but Serena tried her best to remove any stray leaves caught in her thick hair with her free hand. Any repairs to her outfit would have to be done later, once they reached Santalune City, assuming that Shauna could get them back to the campsite on time.

As they entered the gigantic clearing, however, all thoughts of her appearance quickly turned into dust as she gaped up in awe at one of the most amazing things she had ever seen.

A titanic tree towered over them, black at the roots and turning a rich shade of blue up to its branches, which swirled outward overhead in pale blue. Strange light blue patterns spiraled around its trunk, reaching to the tips of its branches. Its leaves were what really made it magnificent: they looked like they were made out of glass as they filtered light from above to shining a multitude of colours onto the forest floor. They draped from the branches like a curtain, and they seemed to glow in the soft light.

Shauna shook Serena's arm, chanting her nickname excitedly until she snapped to attention. The brunette seemed ecstatic that Serena was impressed, even as she too admired the sight before them.

"This is the Tree of Life!" Shauna said proudly, twirling around and placing her hands on her hips. "This tree is said to be the very one talked about in Kalosian myths, when the god of life used the last of their energy to save the land from destruction thousands of years ago! It's the oldest tree in Kalos and the only one that looks like this! It never, ever loses its leaves in winter, and its bark is actually warm to touch! There are tunnels in the tree, and Pokémon live inside!"

Serena was a hundred percent sure that Shauna had just memorized a tour pamphlet, but she indulged the small girl and nodded as she slowly wandered up to the tree. It was absolutely magnificent, a sight she could never properly explain with words alone. Something bothered her though, a strange feeling nestled in the back of her head that stirred as she grew closer.

"It's strange," she muttered, brow furrowing. "It feels like I've been here before." She reached out to touch the trunk, fingers hovering over one of the strange markings on the trunk. Even without touching it, she could feel the heat Shauna spoke about emitting from it, and absently she stroked the pattern.

The moment her hand touched the tree, light exploded from the markings. The designs lit up blindingly, the leaves bursting into full colour and the tree branches turning gold as Serena pulled away in terror, her right hand feeling like it had been burnt. She held her hand to her chest, left one protecting it as she gaped at the tree, which lit up the entire clearing, multicoloured light pulsing from the marks. Stella whimpered from her shoulder, awoken from her slumber by the light, but Serena didn't dare look away from the sight before her.

Shauna was stammering her name behind her, desperately trying to get her attention. When Serena had gotten over her shock enough to react, she turned to the brunette.

"L-let's get out of here," Shauna stuttered, Cupcake squealing in terror in her arms. Serena agreed, nodding stiffly as the two ran away from the tree, into a random piece of underbrush. They didn't stop running until a twig snapped close by.

"Who's there?" a new voice demanded, stopping them in their tracks. "I know I heard someone! Answer me!"

Shauna relaxed, eyes brightening as a woman stepped into view from before them. "Viola!"

The newcomer had short blonde hair that curled around her face, dark green eyes and a camera bag at her side. Her stance was defensive as she came through, but it fell swiftly to be replaced by surprise when she noticed them.

"Shauna?" the blonde asked, mouth agape. "What are you—" She was cut off by Shauna squishing her into one of her infamous tackle-hugs.

"Riri, Riri, Riri!" Shauna squealed excitedly, completely forgetting what they had seen moments before as she released the older girl to run back and pull Serena over. "Riri, I want you to meet someone! Viola, this is my friend Serena, and Serena, this is Viola Dubois! She's the gym leader of my hometown and my photography teacher!" Stella growled at Shauna, and she giggled. "And that's Serena's Fennekin, Stella!"

"Shauna, what—" Viola tried again as Serena stammered out a greeting. Shauna was too busy gushing to Viola about Cupcake to let her speak. "Shauna, enough!" The effect was immediate, Shauna looking like a scolded Lillipup as she shrunk behind Serena. Viola looked up into the sky, mouthing something before she turned to look at Serena.

"It's nice to meet you, Serena and Stella," Viola told them. "Shauna, why are you here?"

"I wanted to show Riri the Tree of Life!" Shauna seemed to be getting hyped again until Viola gave her a look. "You've let me see it before, so what's the big deal?"

"I'm not mad at either of you, but did you forget about Olympia's barriers, Shauna?" Shauna's mouth formed a tiny 'o' as Serena looked behind them, where they had just exited. Now that she was really looking, there was a strange ripple in the air there. "Olympia felt a disruption, probably from when Serena passed through. She sent me to look at it." Shauna looked like she wanted to die right there.

"Um," Serena spoke up, wincing when the two turned to look at her. Stella nuzzled her cheek reassuringly. "W-what exactly is going on? Why are there barriers around here?"

Viola examined her, and Serena felt herself fidgeting nervously under her gaze. "I'm assuming that since you've seen the Tree, Shauna's already given you her tour guide spiel. The thing is, the Tree of Life really is the one from the Kalosian legends. That's why it's so important to have psychic shields around it to repel regular people. Most aren't allowed to see it, and many don't even know that it really exists. The only ones allowed are the gym leaders, the Elite Four, the Champion, Professor Sycamore and all the trainers they've deemed worthy.

"Olympia Astera is a powerful psychic in Anistar City, and she can use her powers to control who's allowed past. You were allowed in because Shauna was probably dragging you with her." With that part she fixed a motherly glare on the brunette, who scuffed the ground guiltily. "The thing is, lately we've been getting reports of weirdos in ugly red suits who have been lurking around the Tree, so we've been on edge twice as much as before."

"I'm really sorry, Viola," Shauna said regretfully, bowing her head.

"What's done has been done," Viola said, ruffling the brunette's hair. "Don't dwell on your mistakes, Shauna, they'll poison your mind. You taught me that, remember?" Shauna nodded, a growing smile on her lips. "And besides, I have a feeling that Serena would have seen it eventually. I can sense a lot of potential from her."

"_Me?_" Serena asked, incredulous. She really thought of herself as the least likely candidate for anything like potential, but here was one of Kalos' gym leaders telling her that she had a lot, right after they met! Shauna even nodded in agreement, green eyes sparkling.

"Yep," Viola affirmed. "Are you planning on taking the gym challenge? If not, you really should try it out."

This was nearly too much for Serena to take, evident by her petrified expression. Viola and Shauna exchanged looks, Viola silently asking if this happened a lot and Shauna making a note to ask Calem later. After a few moments, Viola spoke to Shauna.

"So, you got your first Pokémon, huh?"

"Yeah!" Shauna exclaimed, practically shoving Cupcake in her mentor's face. "This is Cupcake! Calem got a Froakie, Trevie got a Charmander, and Tiernie got a Squirtle!" As she held Cupcake up, Shauna realized he was still shivering in fear. She spun around to Serena, eyes wide. "Wait, Riri, the Tree!"

"The Tree?" Viola echoed confusedly, and she yelped as Shauna began shoving both her and Serena back into the clearing. "Woah, Shauna, hold on! Olympia will throw a fit!"

The light from the Tree was considerably dim compared to what it was like earlier, but the marks still held a plethora of colours as they shone in the fading daylight and the branches were still dyed golden.

"What happened?" Viola gasped, jaw dropped and hands over her mouth. "I've never seen it like this before!"

"I don't know!" Shauna began rambling, actually seeming excited compared to how scared she had been before. "We went to see it, and then out of nowhere _BOOM—_"

"Shauna, be serious!" Viola fretted, turning to Serena. "I need to know exactly what happened here!"

Serena felt a surge of anxiousness wash over her as she told Viola what she had done, nearly stuttering numerous times as she did. Viola didn't seem to notice, more concerned with what had happened to one of the most important things in Kalosian history. The blonde pulled a Poké Ball from her pocket, releasing from it a white and purple butterfly.

"Butterfree, bring them back to their friends," Viola told it. "I need to investigate and make a phone call. Shauna, Serena, you can't tell anyone about this!"

There was a flash of light as the three disappeared. Elsewhere in the forest, three boys yelped in surprise when a Butterfree suddenly teleported next to them. A split second later, Tierno was face down on the ground, groaning in pain.

"Ack, Tierno!" Trevor exclaimed, jumping to his feet with Calem, only to stop short when he noticed the reason why Tierno was complaining. Serena and Shauna had materialized at the exact same time the Butterfree had, and right over the largest boy in the group. The bug-type had deemed Tierno an appropriate cushion, blasting a Psychic at him to knock him down before it let the girls crash down on top of his back. It then disappeared with a snicker.

"I," Shauna declared, waving an indignant fist in the air, not seeming to notice where she was, "Am never letting myself be teleported anywhere again. Especially not by that darn Butterfree!" Cupcake squealed his annoyance with her, while Stella growled at the space the bug had disappeared from.

Serena made some strange noise of agreement, still dizzy from her first Teleport experience. She vaguely registered Calem standing before her and helping her off the... wait, what did they land on? Shaking her head, she glanced back, only to squeak in surprise at the sight of Shauna ranting angrily about how much she hated bug-types while sitting on Tierno's back.

"Shauns? Could you get off of me now?" Tierno pleaded, while the others stared at them blankly.

"Wha—" Shauna looked down, only noticing for the first time who her chair was. "Oops, sorry, Tiernie!" She jumped off and helped him to his feet.

There was a cough, and Serena turned to Calem. "Where did you two go?" he asked, frowning at the scratches on her arms and legs. "And what just happened with that Butterfree?"

"Nowhere important, and hitched a ride back," Shauna said breezily, swooping past them to go to her tent and reminding Serena of what Viola had told them. It would be hard not to tell Calem, but she didn't want to know what Viola would do to them if she did.

The boys watched her retreat into the bright pink dome, and glanced back at Serena with questioning looks. She hastily shook her head, unsure what to tell them, and turned to check on Stella, who was still pawing at the ground angrily.

[I'm going to eat that Butterfree for dinner,] Stella hissed.

"That doesn't sound good for y—" Serena stopped, something in her head clicking. The boys were in a similar state, unsure of what they heard, and Shauna emerged from her tent to see why everyone had suddenly gone quiet.

"Riri? What happened?"

"...Stella."

[Seriously though, I'm starving.]

Ambroise cackled when everyone but Serena and Stella fainted.

When they came to, Serena was sitting on a log and calmly eating Pecha berry candy while Stella chewed on a twig. They all stared blankly at the pair for a few minutes, trying to recall what happened before they passed out.

[It's rude to stare,] the fire-type chided suddenly, ruby eyes narrowing. Shauna and Tierno screamed, diving to cling to each other as they cowered behind Calem and Trevor, who immediately backed up against a log.

"R-R-R-R-R-R-Riri!" Shauna squeaked, peering from behind Trevor and noticing that the honey-haired girl hadn't said anything yet. "How can you be so calm?"

Serena swallowed another piece of candy before answering. "I'm not," she admitted, voice raised by several octaves. It was evident once she spoke. Her posture was too stiff, her movements too mechanical, and she wasn't blinking.

[Oh, get over it already,] Stella growled at the four, and from Calem's side Ambroise continued cackling. [Shut up, you stupid frog.]

"Okay, woah, back up," Tierno protested, the first one to recover as he held his hands up. "You can talk?"

[No, twigs-for-brains.] The Fennekin rolled her eyes, unable to deal with human stupidity. [It's telepathy.]

"Oh. That makes sense." There was a brief pause where they let that sink in, before Trevor shot up, clutching his head in agony as he fell to his knees. "No, it doesn't! How can you possibly be telepathic? The Fennekin evolution line is fire-type until its final stage! Unless—"

Even Calem seemed freaked out by this, which only unnerved the others even more. Serena popped another candy into her mouth, chewing slowly as Trevor babbled incoherently in the background. Shauna and Tierno were still cowering together as Trevor droned on.

"—no, that's too unrealistic—"

_Would taking a nap right now be rude?_ Serena pondered idly. _I kinda don't want to be awake for this._

"—could probably extend her powers to other Pokémon if she wanted to—" That was enough to catch their attention, and they swung around to look at Stella, who suddenly seemed very interested in Trevor's speech while she turned to Ambroise.

"Don't even try," Calem warned her. Stella only tossed her head, wearing a devious look on her face. Ambroise snickered.

[Radical,] the frog said.

_Goodnight,_ Serena thought blearily as she slumped forward.

* * *

-:-

* * *

"Madame Belrose?"

_"Oh, Viola! Comment ça va? And I've told you to drop the Madame!"_

"It's important, Madame. It's about the Tree of Life."

_"The Tree? What happened?"_

"I think we've found her."

_"Her?"_

"La reine de la vie."

* * *

_butterfree can learn teleport from a tm, but only in gen one!_

_theres probably a what does delphox say joke in here somewhere im so sorry  
_

_an early update because snow day! uwu_


	4. Chapter 3

_respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that makes you feel like shit_

* * *

**Legacies**

**by luckylucyheartfilia**

**[ Chapter 3 ]**

* * *

"Serena, if you don't wake up right now, I'll let Ambroise eat all of your Pecha berry candy."

"Stella, use Ember," Serena mumbled, slowly blinking the sleep from her eyes. The Fennekin was more than happy to oblige, spitting fire at Ambroise and Calem as a warning while her trainer sleepily took in her surroundings.

It had still been light out when she fell asleep, but now ribbons of starlight wove a tapestry in the moonlit sky, shimmering streaks of violet and blue and silver that engulfed all below in a soothing light. It was a sight you'd never see in big cities like Jubilife or Castelia, and Serena was entranced by it as she sat up, Calem's jacket slipping off her shoulders.

"Told you she'd like it," she heard Calem say to the others. Glancing at her friends, she noticed Tierno fiddling with a campfire, and the smell of food being cooked. Shauna and Trevor were sitting next to each other on the grass, so they had probably made up while she was asleep. Their Pokémon were scattered around them, talking to Trevor's new Pikachu. It was a jolt when she remembered what had happened right before she fell asleep.

Calem had to explain what happened with Stella while she was out. The Fennekin had settled down shortly after and let them pull themselves together to figure out what was going on. Stella admitted that she didn't know why she was suddenly able to use telepathy, but they planned on asking Professor Sycamore about it once they reached Lumiose. They had a few hours to deal with it, so they didn't seem bothered anymore by the whispers of their Pokémon in the backdrop. It still made Serena uneasy when Stella casually skipped over and curled up next to her, but it wasn't as bad while knowing that her friends were somewhat okay with it. She returned her attention back to the sky, grateful that no one tried to involve her in the ongoing conversation.

After a while, as he was carefully portioning food out on metal plates and keeping them away from Salsa, Tierno looked up and noticed how fixated Serena was on the night sky. He felt a little reluctant to talk to her because of how fascinated she was by it, but curiosity won out in the end.

"Have you ever seen the sky like this before, Reenie?" he asked her, flipping something over. Serena jumped, surprised by the sudden question. "Apparently Kalos is the only region where the stars are always visible no matter where you are."

Trevor and Shauna were listening in too, and Serena fiddled with Calem's jacket to avoid making eye contact with any of them. "Yeah... I've never seen it so clear before."

"Kalos is mostly pollution free, incredibly," Trevor explained. "It's very strange and many researchers have tried to study it without much results or even vague guesses as to why it is like this. It's like one single healthy, living, and breathing organism. Some people believe it's linked to the story of the god of life, but that sounds a little farfetched in my opinion." He stopped, looking at Serena. "Actually, that reminds me— I've been meaning to ask you something. Seri, where did you live before you moved to Kalos?"

Serena blinked as she took a moment to consider the question. "A lot of different places," she told him, watching Tierno scurrying around and distributing dinner to everyone, including the Pokémon. "My mom and I moved around a lot. It was hard to keep track."

Shauna sounded wistful when she spoke. "That's super cool, Riri! I've always wanted to travel and make a lot of memories. That's why I wanted to go on the Pokédex Project." Cupcake was napping next to her, and she stroked his head gently. "When you're a trainer, you get to see all sorts of places and meet so many kinds of people and Pokémon!"

"So that's your dream, Shauns?"

"Well, I wouldn't really call it a dream, but I guess so!"

Trevor rested his elbow on his knee, holding his head up with his hand. "My top priority right now is completing the Pokédex," he told them. "But when that's done, I want to continue studying under Professor Sycamore so I can be a regional Pokémon researcher."

"Professor Appleby has a nice ring to it. You'll be good at that, Trev. You've always gotten top marks on all our tests," Calem said. Trevor's eyes widened from across the fire as he straightened up. Compliments from Calem were hard to come by, which made this one obviously genuine. "Me, on the other hand... I want to be the strongest trainer in Kalos."

"So you're going for the gym challenge, huh," Tierno assumed as he sat down next to Trevor. "The first one's up in Santalune, with Viola, right?" The question was directed to Shauna, who bobbed her head happily. To Serena, however, something about her smile seemed fake. Trevor seemed to notice it too, but neither of them said anything about it.

"Yep! But we can't stay there for too long! The professor wants us to get to Lumiose as soon as possible!" She turned to Calem swiftly. "You better win that badge as fast as you can!"

"I'll do my best," Calem said, and although his tone was as calm as usual, Serena caught the brief flicker of amusement in his eyes. He'd probably take Shauna's words to heart and beat Viola in under five minutes. "Anyway, thanks for the food, Tierno. It looks delicious."

Today truly was a day of surprises. Tierno nearly dropped his plate on his lap at the praise, Trevor stopped with his plastic fork halfway to his mouth and Shauna looked as if the end of the world had come several million years early. Calem took all these reactions in stride, simply taking a bite from his food and slapping Ambroise's hand when the Froakie tried to steal some.

_I can't believe this,_ Serena grumbled internally. So much had happened that day. Not only was Calem giving compliments freely, but it was the very first day on their journey, the first of who knows how many days. She got her own starter Pokémon, made new friends, and there was also the incident with the Tree of Life...

Serena picked up her fork, trying to concentrate on the appetizing looking meal instead of the reminder of what had happened in the clearing. _I have a bad feeling about all of this._

* * *

-:-

* * *

Santalune was a traditional city, the perfect place for new trainers to gather to begin their journey. There was a constant peaceful atmosphere, and the emerald roofs and blooming flowers were a calming sight for the group as they entered through Route 3 the next morning.

Shauna seemed delighted to be back in her hometown, chattering excitedly about the city as she guided them to the Pokémon Center. The one thing she didn't seem to be so happy about was her own home, and she insisted that they stay in the Center that night.

All Pokémon Centers had rooms for traveling trainers, which varied in size in consideration of groups. They could have shared one room altogether, but just as Santalune was traditional, so were many of its people. The pink-haired nurse at front looked scandalized when they briefly debated it in front of her, so in the end they ended up with Shauna and Serena sharing one room and the boys with another room.

The five then decided to split up and explore the city, agreeing to meet up later on for Calem's gym battle. Calem waited for Serena to clean up before the two went out to wander around together. As soon as she left the room, however, Shauna latched onto the two of them and dragged them down the street, babbling excitedly as she showed them all the stores in town until they finally stopped in front of the gym.

"Hey, Riri, have you decided yet?" Shauna asked her suddenly, interrupting Serena mid-yawn. "About what Viola said, and the gym challenge?"

"Gym challenge?" Calem asked, the faintest hint of interest in his voice. "And when did you meet Viola?"

"Yeah!" Shauna spun around to look at him. "Calem, you have to convince Riri to take the gym challenge too! Viola said she has a lot of potential!"

"S-Shauna, I can't— I—"

"Riri, you really should!" Shauna told her earnestly. "If someone like Viola says you have a lot of potential, you should absolutely go for it!"

Serena tried to avoid frowning at her friend, not wanting to disappoint her but also completely sure that it was a terrible idea. "S... Shauna..." Her face contorted with discomfort as she tried to find the right words, and she took a breath to steady herself, trembling hands tightening as they gripped the skirt of her dress. "Shauna, I've never been in a proper battle before. Battles against wild Pokémon are re... completely different from trainer battles. Besides, Calem's already—"

"Relax! It's not like you're going out to become the Champion, right?" Shauna said, refusing to change her mind. "And you never know until you try! We'll help you train! We can go to Route 22; I'm sure Trevie and Tiernie are there already—!"

"Shauna," Calem cut in, his voice taking on a warning tone. "Don't get ahead of yourself." It was only then did Shauna realize what she was doing to Serena. She bit her lip as she shrunk back.

"Sorry, Riri..." she muttered, scuffing the ground lightly with her sandal. Immediately, Serena felt bad for Shauna. The brunette didn't purposely try to make her nervous. With a sigh, she spoke up quietly.

"L... Look. I'll try it. I won't promise anything, though." The change was instantaneous. Shauna's face lit up, a huge grin growing across her face. Behind the brunette, Calem merely pinched the bridge of his nose. Serena knew right from that moment that she was doomed.

* * *

-:-

* * *

Détourner Way held several trainers preparing for the Santalune Gym. A few called out to them as they walked past, asking for a battle, but Shauna ignored their indignant cries about eye contact rules as she directed Serena down the road. Calem had split off to do his own training, as he had caught a Pidgey on Route 3 and wanted to use it during his gym battle.

Shauna only stopped when they found an empty spot next to a race track, setting her purse down on the ground and fumbling with it.

"Here we go!" she said cheerfully, pulling her Pokédex and Cupcake's Poké Ball from her purse. "Cupcake learned two new moves while we were in the forest. Trevie told me we could check them on our Pokédexes."

Stella had learned also learned new moves while they were in the forest, and seemed delighted to be able to show them off in a real battle as Serena released her from her Poké Ball.

"Are you ready, Riri?" Shauna asked as they returned their Pokédexes to their bags. "Don't worry, it's my first trainer battle too." Serena was still nervous as she watched Shauna send out Cupcake, who was wide awake when Shauna told him about what they were going to do.

Serena's legs were trembling, and she feared that her knees would buckle underneath her. Even though Shauna had insisted on the battle, she looked worried when she saw Serena breathing in and out slowly to calm herself down. Stella brushed against her calf, calling Serena's attention down to her.

[We can do this,] Stella told her confidently. Serena stared at her for a moment, before smiling weakly.

"We're ready."

Shauna pumped a fist into the air. "Alright! Cupcake, use Tackle!"

Something in Serena clicked, like a light switch being suddenly switched on. Back in the forest, while fighting off wild Pokémon, she tended to panic as she ordered Stella to attack. For some reason, being in a trainer battle was different. She reacted on instinct, calling out "Dodge it!" as Cupcake barreled towards her starter. Stella launched up at the last second, landing behind him and spinning around before he could. "Ember!"

"Turn around and use Bite, she's right behind you!" Shaking off the pain from Stella's Ember, Cupcake lunged at her again, and Stella cried out as his teeth sunk into her foreleg.

Serena gritted her teeth. "Howl!" The amplified sound of Stella's cry boosted her strength, allowing her to throw Cupcake off of her and powering up her next physical attack. "Follow it up with Flame Charge!"

"Two can play that game!" Shauna exclaimed, grinning widely. Serena found herself smiling back. "Cupcake, Defense Curl and then Rollout!" Stella cloaked herself in fire as Cupcake leaped into the air, curling into a ball. Stella jumped up as Cupcake slammed down, and the two collided with a bang.

There was a brief flash of light when the two attacks impacted, and then Stella and Cupcake stood facing each other, both looking a little tired but still clearly excited by the battle. Stella had the type advantage, but Cupcake's Rollout attack was super effective against her.

"Again!"

Rollout was a move that continued four more times, each round becoming stronger than the first. Serena had Stella counter each time with a Howl and Flame Charge combination, and the two starters bashed heads over and over again. After the last slam, the two Pokémon were panting heavily, but both were determined to win. They were still fairly low leveled, and it would probably take only one or two more hits to knock either of them out.

Serena looked up at her friend, knowing that the brunette had the same idea that she did. The two girls smirked at each other, something that wouldn't have fit either under normal circumstances, but was surprisingly perfect while both were in a friendly yet competitive battle.

"Flame Charge!"

"Rollout!"

The light faded, and Serena opened her eyes. Cupcake lay on the ground, eyes swirling as Shauna yelped and ran over to him, digging through her purse. Stella stood, looking weary but otherwise prideful at the sight of their victory.

"We won?" Serena asked, stupefied. Stella barked loudly as she leaped into her trainer's arms, nuzzling against her cheek happily.

[Don't act so surprised!] Stella admonished. [You should have faith in yourself, and in your Pokémon!]

Shauna squealed as she flung herself at the honey-haired girl, a revived Cupcake following behind her. "Riri, that was amazing! Oh my gosh, trainer battles are really, really fun!"

[Good job,] Stella told Cupcake, who Shauna picked up after she finished hugging Serena. Cupcake smiled drowsily at her before he fell asleep, and Shauna returned him.

[I want to battle Stella too!] a new voice whined, and Serena and Shauna turned to see the boys and their starters watching them, mixed emotions on their faces.

"H-How long were you standing there?" Serena squeaked, recoiling in shock and hoping they hadn't been watching their battle.

"We found you two right as your battle started," Trevor told them as Serena tried not to make her shaking obvious. "You both acted different while you were battling. It was actually kind of scary."

"They were so cool though, Trevs!" Tierno said excitedly, doing a little dance. "Did you see Stella and Cupcake? It was like they were dancing! SO COOL!"

"Settle down, Tierno, you're going to scare off all the Pokémon," Trevor scolded, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I still haven't caught all of the different kinds on this route..."

Calem was as indifferent as ever as he considered Serena, and she shifted nervously under his unreadable gaze. He hadn't given her that look in a while, and it was unnerving how distant he was acting.

"The Howl-Flame Charge combination was a good strategy," he said at last, the corner of his mouth lifted in a tiny smile. "Viola and Shauna were right." Serena turned away, face burning.

"Riri's gonna take the gym challenge!" Shauna declared, popping up next to her.

"Shauna! I still haven't decided—" Serena felt the panic settling on her again as the spotlight fell directly on her. Even Trevor and Tierno were paying attention now, silenced by this new piece of information that Shauna fed them.

"Come on, Riri!" Shauna wheedled, gripping her wrist to make sure that she couldn't run away. "Viola said that you had a lot of potential, and our battle proves it! You shouldn't let that potential go to waste!"

"But—" Trevor and Tierno gave her approving nods too, and she felt herself growing more panicked. Calem would pull her out if it got too bad, but she had to try and settle this on her own first.

"You can do it for fun! Trevie was right, you act different during trainer battles!"

"So do you!" Serena reminded Shauna, just wanting this conversation to be over with.

"I want to focus on my photography and making memories. Battling's fun, but it's not really me, you see? By the way, say cheese." There was a flash as Shauna whipped a camera out of her purse, and lo and behold, her first picture of Serena was of the girl gaping like a Magikarp. "Hehe, that rhymed."

"Don't worry." Calem moved to her side, a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked over at him, surprised by the action, and felt Shauna linking arms with her on her right. Trevor and Tierno both gave her reassuring smiles. "We'll support you no matter what you decide."

Serena looked at each of them, studying her friends' expressions. From her shoulder, Stella nudged her cheek, reminding her of her words earlier about having faith.

_Battling Shauna was fun, after all._

"I'll do it." Her response was greeted by huge grins and a loud cheer.

[I still want to battle Stella.]

[Shut up, frog.]

* * *

-:-

* * *

"Alright, your license has successfully been registered. You're now able to challenge gyms and participate in any official tournaments!" The nurse slid Serena's new trainer card across the counter to her, her smile never changing even for a second. "Have a nice day!"

As soon as she picked up the card, Serena found herself being guided by her friends outside and down the street to the gym. A man greeted them at the door, requesting to see Serena's trainer card before gesturing to a hole in the floor.

"To get to Viola," he explained, "You'll have to walk across this huge web to the back of the gym. Don't worry about falling, I'm pretty sure that there's a safety net below. Probably."

Serena attempted to do a swift U-Turn right out the gym doors, but Shauna stopped her right in her tracks, warning her about letting all their training go to waste. Calem promised to buy her some candy to make up for not watching, since he had to continue his own training, while Trevor and Tierno decided to take the back exit to wait for Serena to meet Viola. Shauna was supposed to go with her over the web, but before she could three girls swooped down on her and stole her away before she could blink.

That left Serena on her own to traverse through the Santalune Gym's basement. The upper floor of the gym housed Viola's gallery and a few event halls, while all the battles happened underground, in a dark expanse lit with glowing silver cobwebs laced with dew and lined by giant leaves. There were a few trainers down there who told her she'd have to fight them in order to see Viola, but Stella easily blew them away after the effort the others had put in preparing them for the gym.

Even so, Serena had her doubts._ Calem, I hate you._ She fixed a suspicious glare on the silvery strands beneath her feet and the black abyss below, waiting to swallow up anyone without a proper sense of balance. She found herself unable to blame Shauna, but Calem was a different story. _Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate—_

To be honest, if she actually could see the ground below if she paid attention. Her disbelief at how absurd the gym's design was had clouded her judgement and made it seem a lot worse than it really was. There still wasn't a net though, and if she didn't win this gym battle then she'd go and push Calem out a window again, preferably without shrubs below.

A wooden platform rose up to provide a resting place, and Serena gladly took its sanctuary as she sat down to rest her shaking legs. She was by no means afraid of heights— what really scared her was the thought of falling from them. A beep sounded from her bag, and her hands trembled as she picked up the little pouch for her Holo Caster from the side, sliding the device from it and pressing the accept call button.

_"Seri, you made it,"_ Trevor's holographic image assured her. _"Look up."_

Starting from the platform she was sitting on, the webs were organized into a rectangular shape, still crisscrossing over each other above the ground. On the other side was a larger platform, surrounded by giant leaves flecked with huge dew droplets. Viola stood on that platform, an assortment of camera equipment scattered around her, and a brown-haired girl who resembled her standing off to the side. Another platform was on the side of the strange battlefield, and Trevor, Tierno, Jasper and Shuffle were sitting on it, a door behind them.

"So, it looks like you've decided to take my advice after all, Serena!" Viola yelled across the gap when she noticed her shutting off the Holo Caster. "Perfect! So, how many Pokémon do you have on hand?"

"Just one!" Serena released Stella next to her, and the Fennekin gracefully sauntered onto the web, not caring at all about the threat of falling from it. The brunette next to Viola raised an eyebrow at this, a challenging glint appearing in her eyes.

"Only one? You've got some nerve," she said. The brunette's tone wasn't hostile, however, and she actually seemed to be excited to watch the battle.

"Not nerve, just trust," Tierno corrected loudly, giving Serena a thumbs up. "Show 'em what you've got, Reenie!" Trevor waved at her while Jasper and Shuffle cheered for Stella.

Viola tossed a Poké Ball up in the air, and from it a tiny blue insect appeared. It landed on the web, lightly rippling it and sending Stella into a battle-ready stance. Trevor and Tierno both brought out their Pokédexes to record the new Pokémon, as did Serena.

"_Surskit, the Pond Skater Pokemon,_" the Pokédex lectured tonelessly. "_It is part bug-type and part water-type. They usually live on ponds, but after an evening shower, they may appear on puddles in towns. If they sense danger, they secrete a thick, sugary syrup from the tip of their head._"

"I almost forgot!" Viola exclaimed gleefully when she noticed the device, whipping her camera out to snap a picture of Serena. "You got a starter with Shauna, so that means you're a Pokédex owner too! That's even better!"

"You've always gotten easily excited over trainers with great potential," the brunette commented, a hand on her hip. "I think you're right with this one too."

_People are complimenting me, people are complimenting me, people are complimenting me._ Serena's brain was on overdrive, and Stella looked back at her worriedly. _How do you accept compliments without sounding ungrateful or vain oh my gosh—_

_"This will be a no restrictions match!"_ The voice of the man from the gym door announced. _"Gym leader Viola Dubois versus Serena Summers of Vaniville Town! Whoever knocks out all of the other's Pokémon first wins! Begin!"_

"Surskit, use Bubble!" Viola shouted, and the bug leaped up, spraying bubbles rapidly at Stella, who tensed as she waited for Serena's orders.

Serena was brought back to reality by the promise of a good battle. "Spin around and pop them with Tail Whip!" Stella jumped up, spinning around in midair and swiping through the approaching bubbles with her tail. She hit most of them, but a few stray ones did a fair amount of damage. Serena waited until she was sure that Stella was back on the thread before ordering her next attack.

"Ember!" Using Flame Charge while on the web was a risk, so Serena made sure that Stella aimed above the silver strings, up where Surskit was falling from its attack. The flames hit Surskit, pushing it back and almost making it miss landing on the web. Just in time, it reached out and grabbed at a strand with a thin leg, pulling itself up. "Again, Stella!"

It would be difficult to deal much damage since Surskit was part water-type, but they didn't really have much of a choice. Stella ran forward, leaping lightly from thread to thread while spitting fire at her opponent, making sure that it had no time to retaliate. By the time Stella reached it, it had been knocked out. Viola returned it before it could fall to the ground below.

"Vivillon!" Viola's second Pokémon was a butterfly, sort of like the Butterfree she had used the day before, with a gray body and large pink wings. "Harden, and then use Tackle!"

_"Vivillon, the Scale Pokémon. It is part bug-type and part flying-type. Vivillon with many different patterns are found all over the world. These patterns are affected by the climate of their habitat."_ Not exactly helpful, but at least this time Serena knew that Stella wouldn't have the weakness that she had with Surskit's water-typing. Right as Vivillon was about to swoop down to collide with Stella, Serena called out, "Jump on it and use Flame Charge!"

Stella landed on Vivillon's back wearing a flowing cape of fire, and the flames scorched the bug-type's back. The two Pokémon landed back on the web, and Stella swung around while still using Flame Charge to whip it with her tail. Vivillon was sent flying, but managed to recover in mid-air.

"Vivillon, use Infestation!" Thousands of tiny black bugs crawled out over the web and onto Stella, covering her in a dark live swarm.

_Well,_ Serena thought faintly. Stella barked and howled, trying to shake off the insects frantically._ I can see why Shauna hates bug-types._ Stella yelped again, reminding Serena that they were still in battle. "Flame Charge!"

Flames surged up around Stella, turning the bugs crawling over her into a crisp. Under her paws, the fire licked the thread and began spreading across the web, which slowly fell apart. Stella jumped, flames swirling around her like an fiery tornado, and slammed down on Vivillon. They crashed onto the ground below, and as they did Stella fired an Ember into Vivillon's face.

With that, Vivillon was knocked out. Stella beamed up at Serena, who grinned down at her Pokémon proudly.

_"The winner of this match is Serena Summers!"_

* * *

-:-

* * *

"Don't worry about the Tree," Viola told Serena as they exited through the portrait door, a pink case with a shiny new badge in Serena's hands. "I've contacted Olympia and the other gym leaders. We'll take care of things, so just put it at the back of your head, okay? Tell Shauna that too."

Tierno had gone on ahead to tell Calem the news while Trevor waited outside the gym for Serena. The brunette woman from earlier stood next to the door, and Viola brought Serena over to introduce her.

"I forgot to tell you earlier, but this is my sister Alexa. She works for the Lumiose Gazette, but they've been having power problems lately so she's been staying with me here." Viola paused as the two shook hands. "The next gym is up in Lumiose, but because of the power outage I think you should detour to Cyllage City's gym instead, if you plan on continuing the challenge."

"Alright. Thank you, Viola!" She waved as she exited the gym doors and went out onto the street. The boys were already waiting there, talking about Serena's victory. As she approached, they looked up and greeted her with wide grins.

"Congratulations, Rini." Calem had positioned himself in a way that Trevor and Tierno couldn't see the smile he gave her. "Sorry I couldn't watch your match, but I'll go see the next one." Earlier, Serena would have been frustrated that people were deciding things for her, but she had already decided on her own that she wanted to try another gym battle.

"You should have seen it, Cals," Tierno exclaimed, doing a little dance. "Oh man, it was so unbelievably cool!"

"I wouldn't have expected anything less. My battle won't be for another hour, so do you guys want to get something to eat first?" Calem paused, noticing that one of their group was missing. "And where did Shauna go?"

* * *

-:-

* * *

"Leave me alone!"

"Shaunee, wait—"

"What do you know? You're not even my real sisters!"

Shauna slammed the door of her house behind her, glaring at the ground as she stormed out and back onto Santalune's main street. She hadn't felt that angry in such a long time, but she wished her sisters would get off her back for once and stopped rubbing it in about how _special_ and_ perfect_ they were, and how Shauna could_ never_ be like them. She fiercely rubbed at her eyes, trying to stop the tears that threatened to come. Yeah, that would be perfect, letting them know they got to her.

But the truth was that they didn't even know they made her feel that way. Shauna sighed, feeling the anger drain out of her as she stepped into the Pokémon Center. For the first time in a long time, she regretted her words. Although it was in her nature to keep moving forward, she knew that what she had said to her sisters wasn't something that could simply be left behind and forgotten. Still, she didn't want to return back home. Not just yet.

She wasn't sure if Serena had finished her gym battle yet, and she didn't really feel up to going to check. She waved feebly at the nurse as she passed by towards the rooms, digging through her purse for the card key as she walked.

"Oh, Shauna," Serena said as soon as the door opened. "Welcome back." Stella sat next to her on the bed, a pink badge case at her paws. The Fennekin wore a haughty smirk and a red bow on top of her head, probably prizes for winning the gym battle. Normally, Shauna would have flung herself at them, squealing loud congratulations, but this was different. Serena seemed to notice this too, and Shauna forced a fake smile on as she walked over to her bed.

"Hey, Riri. Do you think I could have some time alone?"

"Um... alright." Serena shuffled towards the open door with Stella in her arms, before she stopped and turned back to look at Shauna. The honey-haired girl examined her for a moment, a strange look on her face. Shauna wasn't a master of reading facial expressions; that was Tierno's forte. However, she had been friends with Trevor for long enough to tell when a quiet person was struggling to say something.

"The others..." Serena fidgeted, but Shauna was willing to be patient for once. "We're going to watch Calem's gym battle... are you going to come?"

Shauna took a deep breath. She had already missed Serena's first gym battle, and she didn't want to do the same with Calem. Besides, she owed Serena this. It must have taken her a lot of courage to ask something without being prompted. Again, she tried to smile, and this time she found it much easier.

"Yeah. Alright, let's go, Riri."

* * *

_the editing for this chapter was a little rushed because i wanted to update today, but i randomly decided to rewrite the entire thing last night. oops._

_out of curiosity, what are your favourite xy novelizations? i really like reading other peoples bc were all writing about the same thing, but everyone has their own interpretations and ideas about what happens! there are so many different ways of telling this story and its just super cool oh my gosh_


	5. Chapter 4

_the older you get, the quicker you realize that a lot of adults dont know what theyre doing either_

* * *

**Legacies**

**by luckylucyheartfilia**

**[ Chapter 4 ]**

* * *

The girl of galaxy dust and starlight stood alone in the darkness.

Galaxies burst into colour above her, swirling across the void. Trails of ruby, sapphire and emerald danced a delicate waltz on top of dark velvet, gold ribbons curling their way around the stars. The star girl was draped in gossamer waves of starlight, white and lavender silk flowing behind her as a cold breeze swept throughout the darkness and wove through her hair. Silence echoed around her, only broken by the delicate tinkling of a bell.

[Reine.]

She turned, nodding her head in acknowledgement towards the lunar goddess. Above them, the cosmos whirled around and joined together, painting pictures in the sky. The constellation of a colossal tree formed next to them. When the star girl tried to touch it, the lights tore apart and scattered far out of reach.

[Something is going to happen,] the lunar goddess told her, not waiting for a proper greeting. [And you are about to be caught in the crossfire.]

"What is it?" the star girl asked apprehensively, trying not to let her nervousness show.

[I cannot tell you. We are not allowed to interfere unless it is necessary.] The goddess examined her critically. [Ask them for help.]

The star girl's nails dug into her palms as she looked away.

"I can't."

[You must,] Cresselia urged. The lunar Pokémon drew the stars towards her, ripping them apart and piecing them back together. Above their heads she wrote four words in starlight.

Serena opened her mouth to respond, but before she could something slammed into the side of her face.

* * *

-:-

* * *

[You look like idiots,] Stella told Tierno, Shuffle and Salsa bluntly, even while the corner of her mouth was curled up in amusement. She was in a good mood that morning, with the colourful flowers of Parterre Way's famous gardens blooming around them and the sun shining in the sky. Cupcake tottered over and flopped down over her back, and with a snort that only Stella could make sound dainty, she shoved his head fondly with her own before looking back at her other hatchmate.

[Don't be like that, Fenn,] the Squirtle laughed good-naturedly, striking a pose. [You're just jealous of our sweet moves.]

[No,] Salsa grumbled. [She's right. This is stupid.] The Fletchling slapped his teammate with his wing, struggling to keep up with Tierno's quickly improvised choreography. Stella and Shuffle both snickered at him, amused more by the fact that he was actually trying than by how awful he was at dancing.

The group had left Santalune City first thing in the morning, after Calem blew through Viola's team in five minutes the night before. Shauna was too restless to stay in the city for another day, so they were now en route to Lumiose to speak with the professor. Or they used to be, until they decided to pause in the middle of Route 4 to take a break. Serena had been woken up far too early to function properly, and was now napping in the grass before the Perle Fountain, while Shauna had left Cupcake with her when she ran off into the garden to take pictures. Trevor had wandered off to search for Pokémon and Calem went elsewhere to train. That left Tierno and his team to entertain Stella while she kept watch over Serena and Cupcake.

"Keep it up, guys!" Tierno encouraged, ignoring Salsa's clear frustration as he added in a spin. "Good job, Shuffle!"

[What am I, chopped liv—]

[INCOMING!]

From out of the hedge maze, a lithe Pikachu skidded out from backwards, electricity crackling from her scarlet cheeks. A tiny Pokémon carrying a blue flower twirled around overhead, dodging the electric-type's attacks. Trevor and Jasper followed quickly after, the Charmander snarling as he fired another Ember at his target.

"Citrine, Thunder Wave!"

Tierno glanced back at Serena, surprised that she was still asleep during all the ruckus. The tiny Pokémon flew between Shuffle and Salsa, knocking them over as it charged towards Serena and Cupcake. Stella growled at it as it flew over her trainer's head, only to jump back in surprise when Trevor chucked a Poké Ball at it. Again, the Pokémon dodged, and the Poké Ball flew onwards to hit Serena in the face. The honey-haired girl shot upwards, crying out and clutching at her cheek with her hand. Trevor paled, skidding to a stop while the Pokèmon blabbered incoherent strands of words in the background.

[I'm so sorry, guys!] Citrine wailed to the others. Shuffle and Salsa backed away from her, wary of the panicked sparks flying from her cheeks. [I didn't mean to—]

[What on earth are you apologizing for?] Stella demanded. [Blame that stupid_ thing—_]

[What's for dinner?]

[Ches, _no._]

[QUIT YELLING!] Jasper roared.

[LOOK WHO'S TALKING!] the others screeched back in perfect harmony, excluding the docile Cupcake and timid Citrine. Their trainers cringed, rubbing their foreheads as their howls bounced around in their heads.

"Serena— I mean, Seri, please forgive me for—"

"It's fine, it's fine," Serena said weakly, rubbing her sore cheek. "Just don't throw that hard, you could hurt someone!"

Tired of being ignored, the Pokémon he had been chasing flew up in front of Trevor's face, sticking its tongue out at him tauntingly. The ginger-haired boy surprisingly let out a loud string of swear words, lunging at it and swatting at it when it continued flying circles around him.

"Citrine, Play Nice!" The electric-type jumped forward to purr soothingly at the rogue Pokémon. Miraculously, it settled down and flew close to Citrine. Trevor threw one last Poké Ball, relaxing only when the sphere stopped shaking. He sighed in relief, wiping sweat off of his brow.

"What kind of Pokémon was that?" Tierno asked, leaning over Trevor's shoulder as the shorter boy pulled out his Pokédex to record his capture.

"A Flabébé," Trevor recited, scanning the Dex entry. "One of the new fairy-types discovered a year ago."

"Fairy-type?" the other two exclaimed in unison, leaning forward. Trevor knew what they wanted right away, and with great reluctance, he released his new Flabébé from her Poké Ball. She wasn't as hostile as before, but still looked on them with disdain. Stella glowered at her while she settled herself down on Serena's shoulder, and Shuffle, ever the diplomat, stepped forward to try to introduce her to the rest of the group.

[Yo!] he greeted. [So, um, I'm Shuffle and these are—] The Flabébé harrumphed, turning away from Shuffle, whose face fell. Both Stella and Jasper bristled on behalf of their hatchmate, clearly intending to Ember the fairy-type back to where she came from.

The three trainers looked at each other nervously before Trevor intervened. "So, Flabébé..." To his immense relief, the fairy-type actually glanced at him, albeit frigidly. "What do you think about the nickname 'Lazuli'?"

The Flabébé regarded him coldly for a minute, before floating over to the hand that held her Poké Ball. [Acceptable.] She pressed the button on the sphere right after, disappearing in a flash of red light before anyone could stop her.

Both trainers and Pokémon stared at the capsule for a few moments before Stella snarled out an irritated [Acceptable?_ Acceptable_? _I'll show her accepta—_]

Serena picked her starter up gently by her scruff and deposited her on her lap, Cupcake tiptoeing over to pat his friend on the cheek. "Easy, Stella," she said soothingly. Deciding to give her angry fire-type some time to stew, Serena looked up at Trevor. "Could you explain the fairy-type thing?"

Trevor and Tierno settled down in the grass next to her, their Pokémon following suit. "The fairy-type was only discovered last year. It is a typing exclusive to Kalos for unknown reasons, and it turned the entire type-matchup system on its head because it has been more than a decade since the last time a new elemental type was discovered."

"How does it work though, Trevs?" Tierno asked, scratching his head. "You said they can only be found in Kalos, but aren't there some Pokémon like Snubbull that are fairy-types here and normal-types everywhere else?"

"As I said, it was discovered so recently that no one is sure why they are like this." Trevor shrugged, not sure what else to tell them. "Some believe it has something to do with the Hundred Year War. It is actually theorized that the king's Pokémon mentioned in the story was a fairy-type."

"The Hundred Year War..." Serena shifted uneasily, a little embarrassed about what she was going to tell them. "I actually don't know a thing about Kalos' history."

Trevor's eyes lit up, eager to begin a nine-hour lecture about how Kalos was formed and the details of every single event that had happened since then. Before they could, the sound of footsteps drew their eyes upwards. They were far too heavy to belong to Calem or Shauna, and their suspicions were confirmed when a giant of a man lumbered into view from behind a Lilligant topiary.

The mere sight of him was enough to have the groups releasing quiet _'eeeeep_'s of fear for several reasons, including but not limited to the fact that the guy was at least nine feet tall and he looked very much like a crazed vagabond who wanted to eat them. Maybe the 'eat them' part was an over exaggeration, but he was dressed in ragged and torn clothes, while his matted hair was long and silver as it covered one of his eyes. The visible one was a piercing shade of blue that stared past the kids and into the distance, before slowly moving down to look at them. He didn't really focus on any of them until he locked eyes with Serena, who stared back at him, frozen.

"...Sereine?" he muttered confusedly, blinking slowly, before shaking his head. "No, must find..." Slowly, he turned to trundle past them, in the direction of Lumiose City. "The flower Pokémon... given eternal life..."

He left the group in stunned silence, until Trevor asked, "Who the hell was that?"

"Did you see how tall he was?" Tierno exclaimed. "Holy cow, like the exact opposite of Trevs—"

"Are you trying to start something, Tierno?" Trevor demanded, a demonic aura beginning to form around him and the giant quickly forgotten. Serena nervously inched away from him.

Tierno laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "Who, me? Haha, haha, hah, uh." Tierno whipped around to look at Serena. "Reenie! Are you any good at arcade games?"

"No?"

"Great! Well, we're just going to head into Lumiose _seeyoulaterTrevsbye!_" Tierno stood, grabbing Serena by the elbow and hauling her towards the Lumiose gate at a breakneck speed. The Pokémon fled along with them, leaving an enraged Trevor behind.

_"TIERNO, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"_

* * *

-:-

* * *

"You_ lied_," Tierno growled, eyes locked on the screen as he worked his combo back up again.

"Sorry!" Serena chimed. Her attention was also locked on the bright arrows as they made their way through one of the hardest songs in the game. They were in a local arcade on the southern side of Lumiose City, after Tierno hastily dragged Serena far away from Trevor back on Route 4. They had passed by Shauna and Calem on their way into the city when Cupcake ran back to his trainer, but she wasn't sure where they were now. She figured she could just find Calem later on, as soon as she kicked Tierno's butt at his own game.

[That's what you get for picking a fight,] Shuffle said cheerfully from the side. He and the other Pokémon were sitting off to the side, on top of a pile of prizes as they watched their two trainers spar DDR style. [But Trevor _is_ scary when he's mad.]

[I can't believe he uses such foul language,] Stella sighed. [And he seems like the most mature out of the five.]

[Yours definitely isn't,] Salsa commented. [The lady really hates losing, huh.] Tierno was starting to breathe a little heavier, but Serena hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

Stella's ears flattened. [There were racing trophies and medals at her house. All first place. It must be a family thing.]

After two more songs, Tierno stepped off the machine and sat down against the wall.

"I admit defeat!" he said, throwing his hands up. "I'm so tired, I don't think I could lift my hand to throw a dart."

Serena's gleeful expression quickly faded to be replaced with concern as she handed him a water bottle. "Ah... sorry about that, Tierno..."

Tierno just grinned and waved her off flippantly as he caught his breath. It was only then that Serena realized this was the first time they had been alone with each other, and that she was much more at ease with him than she had been while with Shauna.

"Nah, it's fine," Tierno told her. "I just wasn't expecting for you to be that good. I guess I should have known though, with all the Santalune stuff." Serena flushed at the reminder at how intense she got during Pokémon battles. It wasn't something she would have ever expected either, but after all of this she was beginning to form a vague idea of where she had picked up her competitive habit from. "It's still a little strange though, how you act with competitions." A nervous bead of sweat rolled down Serena's forehead as she flashbacked to Grace's racing career and brief Pokéathlon obsession. Yeah, she definitely knew where she picked up the habit now.

"Excuuuuse me!"

"What the—" Both Tierno and Serena jumped as a figure appeared from thin air next to them. He was maybe an inch or two shorter than Tierno, with spiky black hair, dark shades and an obviously fake beard. It was crystal clear that he didn't want anyone to see his face, but with his red hoodie and dark shorts it was kind of pointless to disguise himself as an older man.

"Young sir and absolutely_ lovely_ madam," the weirdo cajoled, throwing an arm over Serena's shoulder and leaning in. "Would you like to be the proud owner of a Pokémon egg? Well, look no further, for I have something foooor you!" Before Serena could freak out and shove him out of her personal bubble, he whirled back, a black cape suddenly appearing over his shoulders. From within the cape, the stranger pulled out two Pokémon eggs which he promptly shoved into Serena and Tierno's arms.

"Do not worry about the fee," the weirdo said dramatically. "These are free of charge, although I'd appreciate a kiss from the beautiful maiden—"

"_Ethan!_" someone howled in the distance. The stranger jumped, his shades slipping off his nose and fake beard falling off to reveal the face of a boy maybe two or three years older than them, with a mischievous grin and bright gold eyes. He pulled a hat patterned like an Ultra Ball out of his backpack and fixed it backwards over his black hair, before throwing the cape off and shoving it in his backpack.

"Whoops," he said cheerfully, glancing back over his shoulder. "Gotta fly before Kris catches me. Anyway, you two can keep those eggs, so take care of 'em okay? Catch you later!" As quickly as he had appeared, he disappeared, leaving Serena and Tierno dumbfounded in his wake.

Moments later, three people ran by the arcade. One had long red hair while another had cyan pigtails, but neither seemed out of breath as they yelled angrily for a boy. The third was a girl with brown pigtails and a ridiculously poofy hat, and she doubled over to catch her breath as the others ran ahead. When she recovered, she chased after the others and cried out for them to wait for her.

"What just happened?" Tierno asked confusedly, before looking down at the egg in his hands. "...Reenie, do you know how to take care of an egg?"

Serena shook her head mutely, still staring at the place where the boy— Ethan?— had been standing moments before. Stella jumped back to her shoulder to get her attention, and the fire-type tilted her head to Tierno, who had stood and was examining his egg.

"That was really weird... but I think we should head over to the Pokémon Center," Tierno told her. "I'm sure one of the nurses there can tell us what to do. ...I just hope that we weren't involved in something illegal."

[I hate to be the bearer of bad news...] Salsa's tone told them he was actually more than happy to be the bringer of misfortune. [...but how are you gonna carry all this stuff back while you're holding those eggs?] He pecked at a Litwick plush at the top of Serena's reward pile, and the two humans blanched.

"...I'll call Calem," Serena said at last, pulling her Holo Caster out.

* * *

-:-

* * *

Serena felt like she had died and gone to heaven as she took another bite of her brownie sundae. It was the perfect combination of hot and cold, the warm chocolate mingling beautifully with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauce drizzled tantalizingly on top. She would have happily died and gone to heaven if she knew that eating this masterpiece was the very last thing she ever did.

From across the table, Calem watched as she descended into food-induced bliss. He took another sip of his coffee and lifted up his copy of the Lumiose Gazette in front of his face, but Serena didn't miss how the corner of his mouth quirked up with the faintest hint of amusement right before he did.

After Calem helped her tote all her prizes to the Pokémon Center and called over a nurse to help her learn how to care for her new egg, he offered to buy her and Tierno a snack from a nearby café. Tierno had declined, wanting to meet up with Shauna for something, so the two set off alone. It was a voice that sounded suspiciously like Shauna's that told her that sitting in the Café Soleil across from Calem counted as a date.

With a sigh, she regretfully placed her fork down on her plate. Calem raised an inquiring eyebrow at her, concern only visible in his eyes and nothing else. She had gotten good at that, reading his expressions, but this fact did nothing but increase her troubles. Maybe she should go to sleep soon. Speaking of sleep...

"Calem." The dark-haired boy lowered the paper by the fraction of an inch, just enough so he could see her over the top. "Can you tell me about Kalos' history? Specifically the Hundred Year War." He didn't ask why she wanted to know all of a sudden, simply folding the newspaper and setting it down next to his coffee.

"Kalos is infamous for its historical violence," he told her. "There have been more wars here than in any other region, but the Hundred Year War is the most well-known. Someone tried to play god, so they paid the price for their arrogance."

He spent the next half hour telling her about the events surrounding one of the most perplexing and complex events in Kalosian history. There had been many people who dedicated their lives to studying the story, and there was a lot of debate and controversy surrounding the god of life. An actual god, supposing they really existed, interfering in human affairs sounded dubious. There were, however, legends from other regions like Unova where the title of 'god' had been given to Pokémon. The gods of truth and ideals had clashed in that region not long ago, and there wasn't a single person who didn't know about the incident that tore Unova in half five years back.

"What brought this up?" Calem asked after teaching Serena all he knew about the tale.

"I don't know," Serena murmured, resting her cheek in her hand. "I had a dream or something..."

"Oh, Madame Belrose!"

A newcomer at the café door interrupted Calem from responding. The stranger was a youthful-looking woman, with short gray hair and dark sunglasses perched on her nose. She was dressed casually in a white and gold sundress and white heels, and multicoloured stone shone from the strange necklace she wore. Everyone in the café recognized her, including Serena and Calem, and while a few seemed in awe at her presence, others actually waved.

"Bonjour, Madame Belrose!" a barista called out. "The usual, I take it?"

The woman nodded, smiling at everyone before taking a seat at an empty table. Serena turned back to Calem, clearly freaked out by the fact that the famous actress Diantha Belrose had just casually strolled into this tiny café and everyone else was okay with it. Calem sipped his coffee once more, unconcerned.

Diantha accepted her tea and strawberry cake and ate as she flipped through a newspaper. It seemed like she was waiting for someone, but Serena couldn't imagine who. Diantha was well-respected by tabloids, and any gossip about potential boyfriends was immediately squashed underfoot.

"Madame Belrose."

This time everyone seemed flabbergasted as a second newcomer arrived at the door. This one didn't fit in with the bright decor and sunflower yellow of the café, in comparison to the light and graceful Diantha. This guy was at least a head taller than Diantha, with broad shoulders, a wild mane of fiery orange hair and a permanent scowl. He stuck out like a sore thumb in his black and red suit against the sunny yellow wallpaper, but he didn't seem to notice as he strode over and shook hands with the actress before sitting at her table without another word.

The atmosphere in the café changed immediately. A few people seemed wary of the intimidating man, while others whispered hurriedly under their breaths. The man was also well-known in Kalos, and with good reason. He was Lysandre Leroux, the inventor of the Holo Caster. Although he was known to be a polite man, he avoided reporters like the plague, and it was strange that he had invented a communication device when he didn't seem to like speaking to anything that could speak back.

If it was a little odd that Diantha chose this café to eat in and everyone was fine with it, it was completely one-hundred-percent bizarre that Lysandre actually went out in public to meet her.

"Hello, Monsieur Leroux." Diantha spoke politely and seemed welcoming enough, but it looked like she also wanted to know why he was there. She took her sunglasses off and placed them in her purse. "Forgive me for getting right down to business, but why did you request to meet me today?"

"A few questions, Madame, that is all." Lysandre was focused completely on Diantha, not noticing how the café had gone completely quiet and how everyone was listening to them speak.

Diantha delicately placed her tea back down before clasping her hands together and resting them in her lap. "Very well. Ask away."

"You played a young girl so wonderfully in your debut on the silver screen. Wouldn't you rather remain young and beautiful forever and always play such roles?"

Diantha frowned, her tranquil demeanor faltering for a moment. "What a strange question. Why would I always want to play the same old roles forever? Youth may be beautiful, but it's not all there is to life. Everything changes. I want to live and change like that too. So I look forward to playing different roles as I get older."

"You were chosen to be a movie star, correct? Isn't it your duty to be ever beautiful? Everything beautiful should stay that way forever. I would remove all the bad filth from this planet and make this world unchanging and eternal so all good and beauty would last forever. I can't stand the thought of the world becoming uglier."

By that point, the other café patrons were giving the man strange looks. He seemed to notice this at last, for when Diantha said no more he nodded curtly, standing.

"I have heard all I need to hear. Thank you for your time, Madame Belrose." He strode toward the exit quickly, and he caught Serena's eye as he passed by their table. She shrunk into her seat, staring determinedly at her Pecha tea until she knew he was gone. When she looked up, Calem was studying her, silently asking her if she was okay. The café eased back into its previous warm atmosphere as Serena slowly nodded.

"Pardon me."

_Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres!_ Serena gasped inwardly, stopping herself from letting out a surprised yelp. Diantha was standing next to their table, watching them curiously. Calem lightly nudged her foot with his under the table to calm her down before taking over.

"Hello, Miss Belrose," he greeted courteously. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you, Calem. Who's your friend?" Calem glanced at Serena, trying to decide whether she was fit to be included in the conversation yet.

"Serena Summers. She's the fifth student in the Pokédex Project." Diantha's dark eyebrows shot up at that, blue eyes assessed Serena more meticulously this time. The honey-haired girl tried not to dissolve into a puddle of nervous tears because _holy Miltank Diantha Belrose is talking to me!_ "Serena, Miss Belrose is childhood friends with the professor. She stops by the lab sometimes to say hi."

"N-Nice to... it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Belrose," Serena managed to say, shaking Diantha's hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, Serena." Diantha smiled at her before she turned back to Calem. "Are you two in Lumiose to speak with Augustine?"

Calem nodded, glancing up at the clock behind her. "Yeah. We're actually supposed to meet up with the other three soon—" A beeping noise cut him off, and he pulled his Holo Caster out of his bag.

Shauna's holographic image was a panicky mess, and it looked like she was running away from something when she recorded the message. One of the brunette's pigtails had come undone, and there was multiple scratches on her cheeks. Cupcake was on her head, struggling to hold on as they fled, and they could hear a dog barking angrily in the background.

"_CAAALLEEEM!_" Shauna shrieked, close to crying. She was loud enough to gather the attention of every other person in the café. "_I need help on Route 5! Please hu—!_" The message flickered to an abrupt stop, cutting her off mid-sentence. Calem and Serena stared at his Holo Caster for a second before the boy sighed and pocketed it.

"Of course she's gotten into trouble," Calem said resignedly as he stood, Serena following suit. "I better go find her. Rini, maybe you should go up to the lab and wait with Tierno and Trevor. Miss Belrose, I'm sorry for cutting our conversation short, but do you think you could show Serena to the lab? She hasn't been here before and doesn't know her way around."

"It's alright, Calem, don't worry. I've been meaning to drop by today anyway, so of course I'll take her." The three exited the café together and headed in opposite directions, Diantha and Serena one way and Calem another.

* * *

-:-

* * *

"I only moved to Kalos a short while ago," Serena answered Diantha's question quietly as she trailed behind the woman down Lumiose's busy streets. "My mother is a retired Rhyhorn racer."

Diantha nodded, like maybe she had expected this, before asking "Who?"

"Grace Bellamy."

The blue-eyed woman murmured something beneath her breath before looking up as they arrived at the research lab. "Yes, I've heard about her before. Her retirement was certainly unexpected."

Serena cringed, trying not to think about how it was her own fault that Grace had retired. There was a soft trill from Diantha's purse, and the woman checked her messages on her cellphone.

"Oh, dear." Diantha exhaled as she scanned the text. "I have a meeting now. I'm sorry, Serena, but this is where we part. Could you do me a favour and say hello to Augustine for me?" When Serena nodded, Diantha rushed off in the direction of the Route 4 gate as fast as her heels could carry her. Serena decided to hold her in even higher regard at that sight— girls who can run in high heels should be_ feared._

She took a breath before taking her first step into Professor Sycamore's research lab, only to stop dead in the doorway to take in her surroundings. She didn't know what she was expecting from the lab, but she was pretty sure that jade paisley wallpaper and warm red-brown floors wasn't it. The walls were decorated with paintings of a variety of Pokémon from all corners of the globe, and a television in the corner was tuned in to a cooking show, making it feel more like a living room than the laboratory of an esteemed Pokémon researcher. Behind a long counter to the left of the doorway, a violet-haired girl dressed in white was surrounded by stacks of papers, which she was busy sorting into filing cabinets.

"Um..." Serena coughed, trying to catch her attention. "Ex... excuse me..." The girl was completely absorbed in her work, however, and it wasn't until Serena tripped over her own feet and crashed into the floor did she look up.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" the older girl gasped, coming around the counter to help Serena stand. When Serena reassured her that she was fine, the violet-haired girl smiled. "So, you must be Serena! I'm Sina Marvel. A beautiful name for a beautiful lady, non? I'm one of Professor Sycamore's assistants, and an older student of his. My best friend Dexio is one too, but he's not around right now."

Sina paused, a frown on her lips. "That's probably a good thing though. He's always flirting with every pretty girl who comes by the lab. It's so irritating! I wish he'd just focus on his work for once!"

Serena got a feeling that this was more of a personal annoyance than a general problem. She let Sina rant angrily for ten minutes before the girl finally stopped to breathe and directed Serena up the elevator and to the top floor. The doors opened on a long hallway decked in soothing shades of blue, and directly in front of the elevator was a large white door labeled with the professor's name on a gold nameplate.

She knocked tentatively, waiting for a response. There was a loud crashing noise within the room, followed by some clanging before the door finally swung open. Serena froze mid-squeal of terror.

The professor— that's who she assumed he was, anyway— was well-dressed in dark blue and black, and he wore a white lab coat that was a little too fancy-looking for work. From the descriptions her friends gave her, she had figured that he was a bit... eccentric... but she wasn't expecting to see a giant green Pokémon _eating his head_. He seemed completely casual about it too, like he asked it to bite him on purpose. For science.

"Bonjour. I hate to be a bother, but could you get this Carnivine off my head?"

* * *

_you cant find blue flabebe on route four, but were pretending that its possible for this fic heh_

_after a long time of deliberation (and by that, i mean a minute and a half) ive decided to change the 'main theme' to again by yui  
_

_this story actually isnt popular enough to have a 'main theme' but who cares. the answer is not me_


	6. Chapter 5

_"Happiness needs sadness. Success needs failure. Benevolence needs evil. Love needs hatred. Victory needs defeat. Pleasure needs pain. You must experience and accept the extremes. Because if the contrast is lost, you lose appreciation; and when you lose appreciation, you lose the value of everything." – Philippos_

* * *

**Legacies**

**by luckylucyheartfilia**

**[ Chapter 5 ]**

* * *

Serena really didn't want to be within a two-mile radius of the nutcase with a Carnivine on his head, but she obediently tiptoed forward and tugged at the Pokémon. At first, it stubbornly refused to release itself from the professor's head, but when Serena insistently tugged on it a fifth time it allowed itself to be pulled away.

The professor pulled a diver's helmet off his head, tucking it under his arm and flipping his unruly black hair before taking a good look at the girl. As he did, Serena gaped as the ceiling above him opened and a blond boy dumped an entire bucket of glitter on the man's head.

The boy winked at Serena before closing the ceiling panel. The professor didn't even seem to notice the sudden influx of sparkles, simply staring at the honey-haired girl with a vacant expression on his face. When Serena began to fidget, he shook his head, giving her a dazzling smile.

"Welcome!" he said, running a hand through his hair and disrupting some of the glitter. "You must be Serena." He took the Carnivine from her hands and gestured for her to come inside. She shuffled forward slowly towards a half-circle of chairs as he turned to toss the diver's helmet aside and return the Carnivine to its Poké Ball.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you," the professor told her, eyes bright. "I'm Augustine Sycamore, but I'm sure you know that already." She was beginning to find herself reasonably comfortable around him already as she shook the hand he offered. It was probably just because she pulled a fricking Carnivine off the guy's head.

"I do believe Calem was right in saying that you have a certain je ne sais quoi." _Je ne say what._ "Oh, pardon me, you're not bilingual, are you? No matter. The others haven't arrived yet, correct?"

The professor plopped down in his own chair, spinning around in it several times. Serena would have been bemused by his behaviour if Calem hadn't told her stories about his classmates and teacher back in Vaniville. That, and she understood how swivel chairs truly were tempting seducers that lured even the strongest minds of the business world into their laps and wait a second, we're getting off track.

Sycamore stopped his spinning to watch her nod in confirmation, and pulled his chair up to his desk to rest his elbows on the edge. "Well, until they arrive, why don't you tell me about yourself?" He gave her a reassuring smile when he noticed her tense up. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. Just things like where you've lived, what experience with Pokémon you have. Speaking of which, what starter did you choose? And have you caught any more Pokémon?"

"Ste... Stella is my only one," she told him, feeling a little overwhelmed. "And earlier, someone gave Tierno and I Pokémon eggs." She released Stella from her Poké Ball, the fire-type nodding at the professor in recognition as she clambered up into the seat next to her trainer, and took the egg case from her bag to show him.

The professor raised a dark eyebrow as he took the case from her and examined the egg inside. Tierno's was a rich purple with yellow hand prints, but Serena's was a pearly white with red and blue marks. "I can't tell what will hatch from this egg, but I'm fairly positive it's not native to Kalos."

"The boy who gave us the eggs was Johtonian..." Serena commented absently, fixing the bow she gave Stella after their gym battle. The Fennekin's ear twitched, and she glanced up in curiosity, wanting to ask how Serena could tell.

"How do you know?"

"Just a guess."

Sycamore examined her for a few moments, but accepted her vague explanation in the end. "Professor Elm of Johto is a researcher of breeding, and he has three students who specialize in raising Pokémon. They're actually your senior Pokédex owners. If you want, I can ask the professor if one of them could identify what your egg is."

"It's fine, I don't mind surprises."

The professor shrugged as he handed back the egg case, waiting as she slipped it back into her bag. "Alright. Anyhow, it's interesting to know about the eggs, but only one Pokémon? I'm sure you've seen many different kinds on your way here."

_Ugh._ Serena winced as the memory came back to her. _I didn't need to remember that._ "My family lived in Unova during the Plasma incident. I used to have a pet..."

That was more than enough of an explanation, and Serena could tell that Sycamore understood right away. Five years ago, Team Plasma had torn Unova in two with their preaching and ideals. Many suffered by releasing their Pokémon, and even now they were still recovering from the emotional pain that had inflicted on them. A lot of time was dedicated to finding the Pokémon that had been released, and returning stolen ones to their trainers. Most were still hesitant about catching Pokémon by themselves, when they couldn't tell if the Pokémon was truly okay with going with them, and there was still some lingering uncertainty and distrust in the region.

"I'm sorry to hear that," the professor told her sympathetically. "You won't have to worry about it hindering the Pokédex Project, as the 'Dex registers Pokémon that are nearby even if you don't capture and scan them, but you might run into trouble if you only have a fire-type—"

[I am perfectly capable of taking care of Serena on my own, thank you very much!]

"I'm sure you are, Stella," the professor continued on, "But I would feel better if— if—" He faltered, gaze falling on Stella, whose ears were lowered in irritation.

"Stella!" Serena hissed. "We were supposed to wait for the others—"

"Did she— did she—" The professor began spluttering, shooting up from his chair and flapping an accusing finger at the Fennekin, disbelief written across his face. "Did she _talk?_"

"I— I can explain—" Serena buried her face in her hands. "Actually, I can't."

The professor spewed a long string of sounds, something like _hwahwahwaWHAT_, before falling limply into his seat and staring dumbly into space. The two humans stayed like that for several minutes, Stella sulking in her chair.

"So." Sycamore coughed, trying to regain his composition. "Can your Fennekin actually speak—"

[Telepathy,] Stella cut in brusquely. [Yes, we are aware that it's not supposed to be possible, no we do not have an explanation, that's why we were going to ask you. If you can't help, then you _better_ make sure Bulbasaur is the one who goes with us.]

The man said something like_ hhbhbhhbufb_ before he straightened. He held himself with a professional and serious air, and Serena hoped that he'd impart at least one tidbit of wisdom upon her.

"I have absolutely no clue what to do," he admitted. Serena rubbed her temples. _I need to take a nap_. "I'll phone the other regional professors and try to find out what I can, but until then follow me."

The professor left the room and turned down the hall, Serena and Stella following behind. They came to a stop outside a large white door labeled 'Nursery.'

"I received six starters for the Kalos Pokédex owners, but only five were picked to go. The sixth has been pretty lonely since the other starters left, since they hatched at the same time." The professor slowly opened the door, Stella darting forward into the room as he did. Almost immediately, the fire-type was bowled over by a green blur. Serena was afraid her starter would burn whatever jumped on her to a crisp, but Stella only pushed the Bulbasaur off of her and bumped heads with it affectionately.

[Fennekin, you came back! Is Froakie here? He promised to help me prank Charmander when he visits, and he said I'm not supposed to tell you— oops.] The Bulbasaur took a step back as Stella's ears twitched.

[Did he really?] she growled, probably debating what was the best way to cook frog and eat it. Sycamore coughed, garnering the attention of the two Pokémon when Serena dropped down to her knees next to them.

"I'll get in contact with Aurea Juniper first," the professor told Serena. "One of her students has experience with telepathy-using Pokémon. Like I was saying earlier, though, you should have more than one Pokémon in your party while traveling. Bulbasaur's been restless cooped up here alone, and he already adores Stella, so I don't think there will be a problem with him joining you."

The Bulbasaur studied Serena as the door behind her closed, the professor's footsteps fading down the hallway. The grass-type hadn't seen many humans besides the professor and his students, so it was always a little unnerving whenever a new one showed up. Stella trotted back to the honey-haired girl and hopped up on her shoulder, confirming to the Seed Pokémon that this teenager was a friend.

[Hello!] he chirped happily, doing a little dance. [You look like a princess!]

Serena giggled, finding herself growing more and more fond of the grass-type with every passing second. It was like one of those breeder stores for families with children too young to become trainers— people would go in and get attached to a Pokémon within the span of three minutes of cooing at it through a window. "Thank you," she said quietly, patting his head. "I'm Stella's trainer, Serena."

[You can understand me?] Bulbasaur turned to Fennekin— Stella, now,— awed. None of the other humans in the lab could do that, as far as he knew.

"No, no, it's Stella's doing apparently."

[But Stella couldn't do that before she left!] Bulbasaur mused. [Maybe meeting Lady S had something to do with it!]

"Me?" Serena asked, perturbed. But now that she thought about it, Stella could only use telepathy after the incident with the Tree of Life. "I don't know, but Bulbasaur, would you like to come with us?"

She didn't even get the whole sentence out before Bulbasaur was nodding his head rapidly, jumping up and down excitedly. The two girls laughed, pleased that he was perfectly willing, and Serena dug through her bag until she found one of the spare Poké Balls Calem gave her. She tapped the button against his forehead and he disappeared in a flicker of red light.

"What do you think about the nickname Solaris?" she asked him, releasing her new team member right after the capture was completed. "Because you're bright like the sun!"

She received an answer in the form of Solaris tackling her excitedly in the stomach, knocking her down to the ground and leaving her and Stella laughing as he beamed at them.

The professor was still on the video phone when she returned to his office, Stella in her hair and Solaris in her arms, and was talking to a brown-haired woman with a fluffy gray Pokémon on her shoulder. He turned when he noticed how the woman was looking over his shoulder, and gestured for Serena to come forward.

"So Bulbasaur decided to join you?" He was pleased when Serena nodded happily, and turned back to the phone screen. "Aurea, this is Serena. Serena, this is Professor Juniper of Unova." The Pokémon on the Juniper's shoulder pouted, tapping the screen with his paw, and Sycamore amended by adding, "And her Minccino, Mikey."

"_It's nice to meet you, Serena!_" Juniper said, Mikey waving at Serena's two Pokémon. "_Augustine told me you have a Pokémon that can use telepathy, is that correct?_" Serena was grateful that Juniper hadn't had any doubts for a second, and tapped Stella on the cheek.

[Hello, Professor Juniper,] Stella greeted, and immediately Juniper's green eyes widened as a small squeal escaped from her mouth.

"_Augustine, why aren't you excited about this?_" Juniper was positively giddy as she pulled out a notebook and started scrawling something down rapidly. "_Oh my gosh, think of all the possibilities! We could be on the edge of a scientific breakthrough!_"

_Pokémon professors help Pokémon, not experiment on them,_ Serena promised herself, her hold on Solaris tightening a little. Neither of the professors seemed to notice her sudden nervousness, instead firing back rapid responses to each other, making Serena quickly lost in the process.

"Ah, Serena, when did Stella first use telepathy?" Sycamore asked, pausing to turn to her.

"Back in the Santalune Forest." It wasn't a total lie, so Serena pushed her guilt for lying down as much as possible. She didn't know what either of them would say if they found out she had trespassed on League property without permission.

"_Didn't you once say that Santalune City has association with some Kalosian legends?_" Juniper inquired. "_Maybe that has something to do with it. I think it would make sense. One of __Blair's Pokémon is actually a legendary Pokémon, and it can use telepathy._"

Sycamore would have done a spit-take if he had been drinking anything. "You never told me that!"

"_You never asked! What kind of researcher are you, not asking questions? Geez, you're really far behind Augs! Even Martin's son has seen a legendary!"_

A rather undignified growl rose up in Sycamore's throat, and Serena feared that he'd order Sina to find a legendary Pokémon as soon as possible. The man rubbed his temples, forcing his irritation down.

"We're getting off track," he told the brunette. "Maybe you can send Blair to Kalos. His legendary might have some answers."

"_That sounds wonderful!_" Juniper agreed. "_Nate and Rosa are already in Kalos, so I think I'll send Whitlea, Bianca and Cheren as well! They deserve an extra long vacation for all they've done for Unova. You're paying for the plane tickets, of course._"

"Excuse me?" Sycamore exclaimed in shock. Juniper simply winked, grinning mischievously as she hung up the call. Serena hung back nervously as the dark-haired man slumped against the wall and buried his face in his hands. There was a knock on the door, and with the professor still incapable of functioning, Serena went to open it.

Sina blinked in surprise when she opened the door, peering around Serena to see the state her teacher was in, before shrugging and stepping aside for Serena's friends to file in. The older girl came back in a few moments later, carrying a bucket of water, which she dumped on the professor's head to wash off the glitter from earlier.

The other students didn't bother to react when the professor jumped up, spluttering, simply taking their seats and calling Serena over to join them. As soon as she sat down next to Calem, the soaked professor strode to his desk with such confidence it was like nothing had even happened.

"Merveilleux!" he exclaimed, sitting back down in his chair and accepting the towel Sina offered before she left. "Now that everyone's here, let's settle a few things first! How many Pokémon have you caught so far?"

The next twenty minutes were dedicated to a show-and-tell session. Trevor admired Tierno and Serena's Pokémon eggs, and Shauna and Calem showed off their new team members; a Furfrou named Darling and a Pancham named Bernard, respectively. Professor Sycamore went through their Pokédexes, showing them how to share data with each other if one had information another didn't. When he finished, he delivered a few more words before they parted.

"Be the best trainer you can be! At the same time, remember to have fun traveling with your Pokémon!" He paused, looking at each of them carefully. "The main purpose of your journey is technically to complete the Pokédex, but I want you five to enjoy yourselves too. And I have one more request of you. I want to ask for your help in solving the Kalos region's biggest Pokémon mystery: the secret and potential of Mega Evolution, a new kind of evolution that occurs in battle!"

That set off a flurry of questions which Sycamore didn't answer, instead choosing to squeeze out the last few droplets of water from his hair. "I want you to meet up with three students of Professor Oak's in Shalour City. They came from Kanto specifically to study Mega Evolution, and I want you five to join them."

"Who are the three students?" Shauna asked, raising her hand.

"Red Hino, Leaf Evergreen and Blue Oak."

That was _huge_ news. Red Hino was the reigning Champion of the Indigo League, after he won back the title from Lyra Clarion when he came back from training on Mount Silver. Leaf Evergreen was his cousin, an talented tactician and powerful trainer by her own right. Blue Oak was their childhood friend and rival, and the Champion before Red as well as the current gym leader of Viridian City. They were also the original Pokédex owners, the ones who began the Project and left behind an amazing legacy for the future generations. What Professor Sycamore was asking of them was essentially to join the ranks of legends.

Immediately, the original four students started firing questions at him, demanding to know more. Serena was the only one who held back, looking pained as she thought about something to herself.

* * *

-:-

* * *

The blond boy with the glitter bucket turned out to be Dexio Leblanc, who offered to buy ice cream for his juniors after the professor let them go. True to Sina's words, he tried flirting with Serena as soon as they were properly introduced, only to have Calem intervene with a threat to shove Dexio's mint chocolate chip up his nose. The older boy was genuinely kind and polite, however, and promised to help them out however he could if they needed it.

They were now sitting on the front steps of the research lab, letting Serena get a good look at most of Lumiose's South Boulevard. In the daylight, you couldn't tell that the northern part of the city was completely out of power, and the largest city on earth was a truly impressive sight to behold. The Prism Tower stood tall and proud against the endless azure sky. Trees dotted the sides of the gray cobblestone streets, providing shade for strolling pedestrians and tiny goat Pokémon that Trevor called Skiddo.

Their Pokémon were settled down in various places around them. The starters had gathered together after being reunited, and Ambroise was bothering Stella and Jasper relentlessly while Shuffle and Solaris laughed at them. Cupcake was napping against Stella's back, having just inhaled several ice cream cones minutes before.

"So, what do you think of Lumiose so far, Serena?" Sina asked between licks of Rawst berry ice cream. The violet-haired girl was sitting on the bottom step, resting her back against a pillar decorated with a Poké Ball.

Serena's gaze trailed back out onto the street. There was constant movement on the boulevard, whether from pedestrians, taxis, or the Gogoat Shuttle. It never paused for even a second, and it reminded Serena of Castelia City. Lumiose didn't have Casteliacones, but it did have Pecha berry ice cream, and that was good enough for her.

"It's really nice," she said, struggling to raise her voice. "It's too bad most of the city is blacked out."

Trevor sighed. "I wanted to check on my sister and aunt, but all the streets are closed off with the exception of South Boulevard."

"Vernal Avenue too," Shauna added, finishing off her pink popsicle. "I got booted out of Boutique Couture earlier."

"What for?"

"I'm still not stylish enough." Shauna held up a shiny white card with 'Lumiose Style' in black cursive. "In Lumiose, a lot of places run on 'style points,' which you get from buying stuff and visiting different places around the city. When you rack up enough points, you get discounts and entrance into places like the boutique!"

"But," Serena started, a sinking feeling welling up in her. "That's terrible!" The others were startled by how loud she spoke, and she quickly lowered her voice. "Think about it, though. You can only get points by buying things, and that's pretty much saying that the only time you can have things cheap is when you're rich. There are people in this world struggling to make enough money to make ends meet, but then the rich can have whatever they want just because they're 'stylish.'"

"I've... never thought about it like that before." Shauna's brow furrowed in thought, looking at the city in a different light. The others frowned as well, unsettled by the revelation.

"This world is very cruel," a deep voice said somberly. Lysandre walked up to the seven teenagers with a stony expression, and Serena tried not to cringe when he observed each of them in turn. The other six chorused their hello's, and Lysandre nodded cordially in return. "Who is your friend?"

"Serena Summers," the girl in question managed to mumble as loud as she could.

"Augustine's fifth student for the Pokédex Project, I presume. I'm sure you already know I'm Lysandre Leroux. Professor Sycamore is an old friend of mine." His icy gaze pierced through her, scrutinizing her appearance. "You were in the café earlier. What is your opinion of the conversation I had with Diantha?"

Serena wanted to remind him Calem has been there too, but forced herself to fumble for the right thing to say when she noticed how the others were watching her intently after her observations on Lumiose's problems. She took a shaky breath, trying to steady her voice as best as she could. "This world is made up both good things and bad things. Maybe the good things don't always soften up the bad things, but the bad things don't ruin the good things either."

"Wouldn't you rather have a world free of pain and loss?" Lysandre questioned, raising a fiery brow.

The honey-haired girl shook her head, firm in her convictions. "Pain and loss shape our lives as much as happiness and love."

Lysandre studied her with a different look in his eyes, and if she had to take a guess she might say it was amusement. "Perhaps. What did you say your surname was again?"

_What does that have to do with this?_ Serena wondered, confused by the sudden change in subject. She repeated it for him, however, feeling a little apprehensive about whatever he would say next.

"Summers... Where have I heard that name before..." Lysandre left the seven teenagers and their Pokémon in silence as the gears turned in his head. "Maybe the Pallet Town Mas—"

"Monsieur Leroux," Calem cut in. His features were indifferent, but there was a cold edge to both his eyes and voice as he spoke. "Didn't you come here to visit the professor?"

The fiery-haired man returned Calem's cool gaze, unblinking. "Yes, I did. Pardon me, I should be going." He brushed past them, up the steps and into the lab without looking back. Sina and Dexio quickly followed after him, throwing back hasty farewells to their juniors. As soon as they were gone, Trevor turned on Calem.

"What on earth was that about? You didn't have to be so ru—" Trevor faltered at the sight before him.

Serena had curled her knees up to her chin, eyes shut tight, hands covering her ears and her entire body shaking. As soon as Lysandre left, Calem was on one knee in front of her, speaking to her quietly in a soothing tone none of them had ever heard him use before. Not even Tierno or Shauna dared to approach them, instead slowly gathering the Pokémon together behind Calem and shielding the pair from the streets. In spite of the hushed tones the dark-haired boy used, they could still catch parts of Calem's one-sided conversation, and the terrified sobs from Serena.

"Serena." Calem reached out to her, withdrawing his hand quickly when she was about to cringe away from him. "Serena, look at me. I'm Calem, remember?" His name was the key. Serena didn't flinch away when Calem reached out for a second time to take one of her hands in his. "Come on, Rini. It's not real, we're in Lumiose. You're safe. Just breathe."

For them, it felt like time had frozen. Shauna looked terrified, gripping Trevor and Tierno's arms tightly, and both finding themselves unable to protest. Serena's Pokémon huddled together at their feet, wanting to rush to their trainer, and the other starters tried their best to comfort them. Calem continued his quiet reassurances until Serena slowly relaxed and finally slumped forward into his arms, fast asleep.

As Calem gathered Serena into his arms, Tierno spun on Shauna and Trevor and made them promise not to mention what had happened unless Serena brought it up first. Neither of them liked it, but they both agreed out of worry for their newest friend. Something big was discovered that day, and they all feared the day it would come back to haunt them.

From Professor Sycamore's window, with the man fumbling around with a tea set in the background, Lysandre watched them rush to the Pokémon Center with a contemplative expression.

* * *

_id like to say thank you to everyone who reviewed so far! uwu i really appreciate all of them! have a nice day!_


	7. Chapter 6

_you are not obligated to say yes to anyone. no means no, and if anyone tries to force you to do something that makes you uncomfortable then punch that sonuvabitch in the face and flip them over a table_

* * *

**Legacies**

**by luckylucyheartfilia**

**[ Chapter 6 ]**

* * *

A lightbulb flickered on, lit by a pink gloved hand. Sharp green eyes glanced around the room, eyeing the short boy in green and the plump boy in gold. The pigtailed heroine adjusted her mask, flipped her bright pink scarf over her shoulder and slammed her hands down on the table before them.

"The fifty-sixth meeting of the Defenders of Kalos, junior branch, begins now! Rollcall!"

"Flamenco Dynamite, here!" the gold hero proclaimed, hand shooting up into the air. His gloved fingers brushed the lightbulb hanging flimsily from the low ceiling, making it swing around slightly to illuminate more of the small storage closet they were seated in.

"Professor Malachite, present." The green-clad hero shuffled awkwardly on his barstool, legs dangling in the air because of his lack of height. "Shau— I mean, Princess Cake, why are we here again?" He eyed the stacks of boxes piled precariously against one wall, where the heroine had slapped on multiple pink post-it notes labelled 'top secret!' and 'super duper dangerous!', knowing they only contained extra blankets. The nurse of the Southern Lumiose Pokémon Center was nice enough to let them use the room for their meeting, but he had to wonder what she thought they needed it for.

Princess closed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Where's Roi Tempête de Neige?" she asked, ignoring the question in favour of looking for their fourth member. Even if he thought their organization was a joke, the dark-blue hero still showed up to their meetings without fail.

"Cal— I mean, Roi— went ahead to Camphrier Town with Starlight Magician," Flamenco stated, unfolding a map of the Kalos region and laying it down on the table. He tapped a circle to the west of Lumiose, before drawing a line to a city on the coast. "Reenie— Starlight, sorry.— woke up and she seemed a lot better so they left while you were asking for the room. There's a gym on the way to Shalour, so that's probably where they're headed."

Malachite pursed his lips. "Is she truly okay? What did Lysandre say to cause her to react like that?"

"Calem acted like she had something like that happen before," Flamenco mused, resting his cheek on his hand and tapping the map idly with the other. "Pallet Town Mas-something, Lysandre said." There was a pause where they absorbed that information, trying to remember anything that had to do with the name of that town.

"I've never heard of a place called Pallet Town," Malachite admitted. The other two teenagers nodded in agreement, and they sighed in unison. This was getting more complicated than they thought it would.

* * *

-:-

* * *

[Lady S,] Solaris warned as Serena skated past him and Stella again, [Mister Cauliflower is about to fall over.]

Serena did a 180 smoothly, skidding lightly to a stop to look at her friend. Calem was indeed about to slip for the eighth time, and with a sigh she zipped over and caught him before he could hit the bottom of the rink.

"Are you okay?" she asked him worriedly, helping him stand. Calem scowled, face red as he caught a railing to prop himself up. As concerned as she was for his safety, she couldn't help but lightly tease him. "Calem Victor, future Champion of Kalos, defeated by a pair of roller skates."

Stella sneered at him from behind her, and Calem forced himself not to choke his neighbour's Fennekin to death. His own Pokémon were all in their Poké Balls, mostly because he knew they would be ashamed if they saw him like this, or maybe extremely amused. Both were terrible options that should be stabbed repeatedly.

A skater inside the Route 5–Lumiose gate had given both trainers a free pair of skates as a part of a promotional giveaway. Serena had been skating ever since she was a kid and was easily doing tricks within minutes of arriving at the newly opened Skate Park, but it turned out that the one thing Calem wasn't good at was standing upright on skates.

To his immense relief, neither of them had seen any of their other friends in the hour they had been at the park. The only people who had passed by were a few trainers who took pity on him and didn't force them into the usual mandatory eye contact battles.

Calem's 'good luck' came to an abrupt end as Shauna, Tierno, and their starters ran up to them at the same moment he crashed to the ground. The Pokémon skipped off to play with Solaris and Stella as the humans lapsed into several minutes of awkward silence.

"I meant to do that," Calem said at last. "Hey, Shauna, Tierno."

Feeling that it would be better not to pour any salt into the open wound that was Calem's pride, Shauna turned to Serena.

"Hey, Riri, how are you feeling?"

Serena blinked at her while making a feeble attempt at helping Calem stand again. "Huh? I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Tierno elbowed Shauna in the side roughly immediately after she asked. "Never mind, it's not important! I'll see you guys later!" She dashed away, Cupcake flailing wildly as he tried to chase after her. Tierno turned back to Calem and Serena, the amber-eyed girl coaxing him to admit defeat and take off the skates, and Tierno got the feeling that if he wasn't there then Calem would be sulking.

[Tiernooooooo!] Shuffle screamed, running out of the tall grass beside the skate park, Stella and Solaris hot on his heels. He scrambled up his trainer's side, clinging to his arm as Stella and Solaris threw themselves at Serena.

"Shuffle?" Tierno questioned as Calem tossed the skates into the tall grass. Instead of becoming lost like they should have been, they rebounded off the top of something squishy and flopped pathetically off of it to the ground.

Three beeps sounded from their Pokédexes, Serena was the one to pull hers out, eyes widening as she read the information bubble that popped up on the holographic screen. The tall grass rustled behind them, and instinctively the three humans backed up.

"Swalot and Gulpin, poison-types," Serena informed them, almost unheard over the loud rustles. "They secrete toxic fluid and can swallow anything whole, and are able to dissolve food in their mouth instantly. I remember a rumour that someone got eaten alive by a Swalot in Hoenn."

"Was it true?" Calem dared to ask, hand on Ambroise's Poké Ball. The first splotches of purple began to emerge from the grass, and Calem's Froakie was out of his Poké Ball and ready to fight.

"Don't know. Don't want to find out. Stella, Psybeam!"

Her Fennekin's latest move, a multicoloured beam of light, sent the first green blob that attacked them flying backwards. Tierno was quick to send Shuffle into the fray, having his starter set up a Bubble line in front of them while he released Salsa.

"Hoard," Tierno gulped, Salsa swooping forward to drag Stella back by the scuff before she could be hit by a flying pile of sludge. "How many of them do you think there are?"

"Too many," Calem said roughly. "Ambroise, Bubble. Cyril, Whirlwind." The wind the flying-type swept up as he emerge from his Poké Ball took the Bubble attacks from the two water-types and slammed the combination into the hoard. The ones that were knocked unconscious were replaced by even more.

A Swalot spat toxic fluid at Stella. Before the attack could hit, Ambroise knocked her back, the bubbles on his chest and back flaring up and creating a protective barrier. He took the Toxic head on and collapsed, poisoned.

Calem cursed, rushing forward to snatch his starter up before he could be attacked again. Cyril whipped up vicious tornadoes in front of them while Calem sent out Bernard, who began punching every enemy in sight. Tierno tossed his friend a bottle of Antidote, which he sprayed on Ambroise right away.

Serena kept Solaris close, fearing for his battle inexperience, and had him keep up a steady stream of Sleep Powder while Stella continued her onslaught of Psybeams. Salsa and Cyril dove in and out, dodging Shuffle's Bubble and flinging their opponents far away from them with a combination of gales.

Something hurtled past them, a red and white blur that disappeared into the grass. None of them paid any attention to it, instead keeping their guard up until one last Gulpin remained standing. Stella finished it off, and when they knew for sure that they were in the clear, both humans and Pokémon slumped to the ground in exhaustion and relief.

They sat like that for a while, until Ambroise began glowing in Calem's arms. Shuffle and Stella were also engulfed in a bright white light, and seemed to be changing shape.

"They evolved!" Tierno exclaimed when the light faded. The trainers pulled out their Pokédexes, scanning their newly evolved starters. Shuffle was playing with his new furry tail, Ambroise seeming mostly confused with his new appearance while Stella examined her arms and new ability to stand on two legs. "Wartortle, Frogadier and Braixen, huh. Trevs and Shauns will be so jealous when they find out."

The evolved starters turned their attention on each other, taking in the others' new looks. Shuffle and Stella were amused by the fact that Ambroise was now a good foot shorter than them, and took the opportunity to get their revenge and bother him for once. The other Pokémon rushed forward to congratulate them, and Solaris expressed how he wanted to evolve soon too.

[You know what this means?] Salsa asked suddenly, glee evident in his tone as he got Stella's attention. [You can't sit on Serena's shoulder anymore.]

The Braixen blanched, looking up at her trainer's hair. The others snickered at her mournful expression, Ambroise full out howling with laughter.

[Bro, you can't sit on Calem's head either,] Solaris reminded the bubble frog Pokémon, and he stopped mid-cackle to glare at the Bulbasaur. He began to playfully wrestle with the small grass-type, Stella reprimanding them loudly when Bernard tried to join in. It looked like they had completely forgotten that they were injured in a hoard attack only minutes before until Tierno called out for Serena, looking around for her.

She hadn't said a word about their starters' evolution and had disappeared in the middle of the ruckus, and he found her digging around in the tall grass now that the Gulpin and Swalot had retreated. They all stopped to watch her until Serena returned to them, a broken Poké Ball in her hands.

"Did you try catching one?"

Serena looked tired for some reason as she showed them the inside of the capsule, the technology that captured Pokémon inside clearly unfixable. What she told them next made their exhaustion come flooding back, worry weighing them down once more.

"The newer Poké Balls are designed to be reusable if you fail to catch a Pokémon the first time you throw one. They only break if you try catching another trainer's Pokémon. Those weren't wild Swalot and Gulpin."

* * *

-:-

* * *

Serena lay on her hotel room bed, not yet asleep but close to it. Stella and Solaris were curled up to her side, resting from the injuries they received in the hoard attack. Calem was on the other bed looking through his Pokédex, Ambroise, Cyril and Bernard playing cards surprisingly quietly in a corner of the room. The window was open to let the gentle Camphrier breeze sweep through the room and the soft, light chatter of the town's residents was a comforting noise in the background.

Although they were troubled by the discovery of the broken ball, the three teenagers prioritized their Pokémon's health first. After healing their teams in Camphrier's Pokémon Center, Tierno left, wanting to look for Trevor. None of them had seen Shauna since she ran away back on Route 5, but they hoped that she didn't get attacked while she was on her own and assumed she'd turn up sooner or later.

Their guess was completely right, because what rudely disrupted the silence wasn't Bernard throwing down his cards and angrily accusing Cyril of cheating, but rather Shauna hurling the door open without warning and probably leaving a huge dent where the doorknob collided with the wall. Calem pinched the bridge of his nose, otherwise looking unfazed, while the others weren't so lucky. Serena squeaked, falling off the bed and taking her Pokémon with her, while Calem's team screamed through the telepathy link simultaneously and accidentally scattered the entire deck of cards across the room.

The three humans were left in odd positions, foreheads pressed against the walls of the hotel room as if that could cure them of their headaches, while the Pokémon were disorientated and distressed. Eventually, Calem's team started a game of 52 Pickup and they all slowly recovered. Serena curled back up on her bed, Stella and Solaris went off to join a round of Go Fish, while Shauna flopped onto the end of Serena's bed.

"There's gonna be a ball at the Parfum Palace tonight," the brunette announced, pulling out a newspaper from her purse and throwing it down on the floor between the two beds. The front page had a picture of an extremely fancy castle on it, and a long article underneath. "Sinnoh's princess is visiting Kalos, so they're throwing a ball in her honour. Anyone who wants to attend can go!"

Serena bit her lip, rolling onto her stomach to reach out and grab the newspaper. "Just Princess Dawn? But she and her two bodyguards are the Sinnoh Pokédex holders. Isn't there a mention of them?"

Shauna took the paper back, scanning it in search for any other names. "Dunno. Is it a big deal that there isn't one?"

"The older Pokédex owners are held in really high esteem," Calem answered, not looking up from the Pancham Pokédex entry he was reading. "We only became owners very recently, so we haven't experienced any of the benefits yet. It's odd because the princess has never been seen without her bodyguards."

"One is the Sinnoh Champion and the other is the new Tower Tycoon," Serena added. "Definitely a big deal."

"I heard rumours that the owner of the Parfum Palace is kinda... you know." Shauna made a hand gesture that indicated something along the lines of _'cuckoo'_ or _'completely bonkers.'_ "Maybe that has something to do with it."

"And you want to go to a party hosted by that loony?" Calem asked, raising a dubious eyebrow at her. "Everyone in town says he's obsessed with money and charges you just for looking in the general direction of the palace. Sure, the article_ says_ anyone who wants to attend can go, but I bet it's going to cost you money."

Having her dreams of meeting a real princess crushed underfoot, Shauna convinced the two to go with her to Camphrier's manor, Shabboneau Castle. It looked impressive on the outside, but its exterior was hardly furnished and reeked of mold and dust. The pigtailed teen looked fascinated by it though, so it was hard to ask her if they could leave. The owner of the manor house was a tired looking man who mentioned that they hadn't had visitors for months, and that the previous owners had given away everything in it. Anything left over was taken by the owner of the Parfum Palace.

"I was hoping there'd be something on Mega Evolution here," Shauna admitted to Serena and Calem quietly as the man blabbed on in a rather desperate attempt to interest them. "Shabboneau Castle's been around since before the Battle of Camphrier three hundred years ago." The castle's owner knew nothing about Mega Evolution, however, and he was eventually pulled away to Route 6 by a man who claimed something was back. He told them they could stick around and explore, but curiosity got the best of them and they followed him shortly after. It wasn't like there was anything left of Shabboneau to explore anyway.

The three found him standing next to a slumbering Snorlax, a giant Pokémon that miraculously didn't crush the bridge it slept on beneath its weight. The Shabboneau owner looked at a loss for what to do, mentioning that the only thing that could wake the Snorlax was the Poké Flute that was now in the Parfum Palace.

"We were going to leave for Cyllage tomorrow," Serena said quietly, sighing.

"Even if this Snorlax weren't here, you still wouldn't be able to kids," the Shabboneau owner told them sympathetically, overhearing her comment. "The path to Cyllage had a cave-in last week. You'd have to detour to Ambrette Town and go up through Route 8."

"Seriously?" Calem asked, barely managing to keep the disbelief from his tone. "More detours, that's just perfect."

"Might as well make the best of it," Serena told him. "We'll go to Ambrette, record Pokédex entries while training, and then head to Cyllage. It'll be okay."

"There's a ton of Pokémon in the Glittering Cave!" Shauna said excitedly. "I bet Trevie will show up there too. So that just leaves the business of the Poké Flute! Should we just go to the palace and ask if we can borrow it?"

"It won't be that easy," cut in the man who had pulled the Shabboneau owner away. "The Parfum Palace's owner isn't accepting visitors until the ball tonight because they're busy preparing. You'll only be able to get the Flute by going to the party."

Shauna couldn't stop the grin that spread across her face.

* * *

-:-

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Serena griped, hands bunching up her light pink skirt and smoothing it out again repeatedly. "I can't even dance—"

"You won't have to," Calem promised from the other side of the door. "We go in, get the Flute, and get out. Understand, Shauna?"

The brunette was too busy twirling around in her poofy princess dress to answer, and Serena sighed as she slipped her hair into a ponytail and tucked a honey-blonde lock behind her ear. The Parfum Palace owner apparently wanted to go all out and make it a costume party with vaguely historical outfits, so they had to go to the only store in town that shipped in costumes for the ball and sort things out. They were definitely putting in too much effort just to get one flute, but Shauna was just ecstatic that she had a chance to see the castle.

"Riri, Riri, here!" Shauna knocked three times rapidly on the bathroom door, shoving a tiara in Serena's hand when she opened it. With a sigh, the older girl closed the door and turned back to the mirror, slipping the tiara on her head and fixing her dress once more. When she slowly opened the door, Shauna dragged her out.

"Riri, you look so pretty!" Shauna squealed, spinning Serena around excitedly to showcase the layers of soft pink and lace that the honey-haired girl had reluctantly slipped into. "Right, Calem?"

Calem was staring. Not for the first time, Serena mourned his natural stoicism, because even if she was getting better at reading him she still wasn't a master at it. He murmured something unintelligible, turning away. Shauna pouted, ranting about how mean he was.

But maybe his quiet personality wasn't so bad, because it made his rare displays of affection even more special. She caught the corner of his mouth turning up in a smile as he turned away, and that was more than enough for her.

"Don't let Cupcake eat the egg," Serena told Stella and Solaris, patting her Pokémon fondly on the head as she placed her hairbrush and regular clothes in her bag. The two had made a pillow nest, the egg in the center and next to Stella for warmth. "And don't let Ambroise and Bernard trash the hotel room."

Pokémon were allowed at the party, but Serena was reluctant to leave her egg alone in the hotel. Their teams weren't exactly made of the most mature Pokémon anyway, so it was decided that they'd stay behind while their trainers went to retrieve the flute.

[They'll be fine, dearie.] Shauna's Furfrou, Darling, provided the much-needed matronly presence that Stella tried to be and often failed at because of her bad temper. The white dog was sitting primly on the floor next to Serena's two Pokémon, grooming a disgruntled Bernard at her feet. The Pancham's fur was sticky with maple syrup after an incident at lunch with Ambroise and Cyril, who were now snickering quietly on Calem's bed. [Just try and enjoy yourselves, alright?]

"Come on, come on, come on!" Shauna tugged at both Calem and Serena's arms, dragging them towards the door. "Let's go!"

With a flurry of fancy-looking fabric and loud protests, they squeezed out the room and slammed the door shut behind them. Their Pokémon listened as their footsteps faded down the hallway before they began moving again.

Ambroise pulled out the deck of cards from earlier and began dealing them out, Cyril watching intently to make sure he couldn't cheat. Cupcake waddled over to the Frogadier and Pidgey, leaving behind a trail of crumbs from the Poké Puff he was eating. Darling and Stella were talking about nothing in particular, and Bernard snuck away from the Furfrou when he thought she wasn't paying attention.

Something was bothering one of their grass-types, however. As the only other member of Serena's team besides Stella and the unhatched egg, Solaris felt a need to be as useful as possible to his new trainer. He couldn't exactly train in a hotel room while Serena wasn't there, but he figured an easy way to start would be to practice with his senses. Being able to tell where another Pokémon was when they weren't in plain sight would be a huge advantage in battle.

Every living creature had core of aura. It was the essence of all living things, a type of energy that could be seen by very few humans and Pokémon. While it could only be seen by few, it could be sensed after extensive training. That was what was taught to him by Sina's Medicham, who could tell where her trainer was even if she was halfway across the city. Learning how to see aura would be hard for any Pokémon that wasn't a psychic-type, but it was possible to sense cores at least.

He closed his eyes, darkness flooding over him and leaving him feeling weightless, and tried to muffle the voices' of his friends into the background. He didn't feel anything right away, not expecting to in the first place, and he wasn't sure how much time had passed before he tried focusing on Stella.

His 'sister' was like the embodiment of the fire that coursed through her, warm and bright but also blistering and scalding, and he tried his best to channel that into a 'core.' The flames that she found comforting scared him, even though he knew she'd never hurt him on purpose, and he struggled to not let his own core of rich green nutrients and sprawling flowers recoil from her. Eventually, a light as brilliant and heated as the Braixen herself appeared next to him. If he opened his eyes, the light would be replaced by Stella's physical form. Encouraged, he moved on to try memorizing his other friends' presences.

He was so focused on his self-teaching that it startled him when a completely foreign presence appeared from thin air. It wasn't playful with hidden threats like Ambroise's water, or lazy and careless like the sprawling vines and roots in Cupcake's core, but had raw, destructive power surging through it and threatening to spill out. His eyes flew open and he stood, eyes flickering wildly when he still felt the strange presence just standing in one place, watching them. It wasn't outside of the room either— it felt like it was just a few feet away from him.

Stella glanced at him in concern when he suddenly shot up, putting a hold on her conversation with Darling to ask if he was alright.

[Can you sense that?]

[Sense what?] Darling silenced Calem's rowdy Pokémon with a warning growl, slowly looking around the hotel room when she smelled a different scent than the ones she had quickly grown used to. When the lights went out, it only took three seconds for Cupcake to start crying.

[THAT!]

On the other side of the room, dark purple eyes started glowing.

Panicked screams filled the air as the Pokémon swarmed together for protection, probably knocking over a ton of furniture as they dashed to the group on Serena's bed. The Braixen held Serena's egg and kept Bernard back from punching whatever was in the room with them, only to let him go in shock when the egg was suddenly out of her grasp, slipping up into the air and floating across the room.

[WAIT!]

The lights flickered back on as the egg landed in the hands of a small gray Pokémon, who stared at them unblinkingly for several moments before it disappeared and took the pearly white egg with it. The Pokémon remained still in shock, unable to accept whatever just happened. The loud silence was broken by Cyril, who fell onto his side.

[We're _dead_,] the Pidgey whispered. [_We are so dead._]

* * *

-:-

* * *

Completely unaware of the chaos that had broken out back at the hotel, Serena frowned as the butler in front of the Parfum Palace's golden gates finished sorting money he had been given by the group of tourists who had entered before them.

"One thousand PD each for entry," the butler said apologetically, looking more and more guilty with every person he allowed entry. "Monsieur Delacroix follows the school of thought that you can never have too much money."

_I already hate him._ Serena kept her eyes trained on the gold Serperiors that adorned the gate to avoid accidentally voicing her opinions aloud._ That's how the rich get richer._

Shauna on the other hand, was openly gawking at the price. Although she had been the one to suggest going to the palace in the first place, she was beginning to regret it. She volunteered to pay for all three of them, fishing out a large wad of bills and shoving part of it into the old man's hand while ignoring the stunned looks the butler and Serena gave her.

"Having three older sisters finally pays off," the short girl sighed, watching the butler count the bills. "Since this technically counts as Dex owner stuff, maybe we should start charging Professor Sycamore."

The butler looked up after placing the money in a case. "Professor Sycamore, you say?"

Shauna nodded. "We're the Kalos Pokédex owners! We only passed by Camphrier to research Mega Evolution. We kinda got off track and now we need a Poké Flute to wake up a Snorlax!"

The butler had newfound respect in his eyes as he opened the golden gates to let them get their first proper look of the Parfum Palace. Light streamed from every window on the beautifully designed castle, and music floated lazily out of the open doors, idle chatter slipping out onto Palais Lane. A few partygoers lingered in the courtyard, away from the main hustle, mostly rich-looking adults who seemed bored and were probably just there to show off their own wealth.

"I've heard of Mega Evolution before, I think," the man mused as they passed. "Go look around the library in the west wing. As for the Poké Flute, you'll have to find Monsieur Delacroix to get it. He's most likely with his pet Furfrou, Cosette, so I don't believe it will be too hard to find him."

The inside of the Parfum Palace was just as beautiful as the outside. The main room was painted a rich scarlet, with white and gold moulding. A giant gold Milotic statue stood in the center of the room, sapphire eyes glittering in the light of the intricately designed chandelier. Two gold arches opened onto a giant hallway lined with portraits of old Kalosian royalty. A stream of visitors flocked towards the east wing of the palace, but a few stragglers seemed to be scattering around the castle instead of going directly to the ballroom.

"So, should we check out the library he mentioned?" Shauna asked, eager to explore the expansive building.

"If it has information on Mega Evolution, I don't see why not." Calem wasn't too pleased at having to be around so many people. "Although we really only came here to get the Flu— and she's gone." Calem shook his head at the dust cloud Shauna left behind after she sped off to the west wing before turning to Serena. He felt a strange pang when he saw her fiddling with her ponytail and cringing whenever someone glanced in her general direction.

"Calem, I want to go back to the hotel," she half-whispered, shyness suddenly coming back to crash down on her. Lumiose was different, because everyone on its busy streets were simply passing by without planning to talk, but at a party like this everyone was crammed into one area and expected to socialize. Calem knew that shoving Serena in a situation that made her uncomfortable would only worsen the damage. They couldn't just leave Shauna alone, though, and with a sigh he took her hand in his, swiftly following Shauna's path of retreat. Hopefully no one else would be in the library and she'd have a chance to relax.

They found Shauna surrounded by stacks of books, already deeply absorbed in a heavy tome. Calem sat Serena down in an armchair next to the brunette before going somewhere else in the seemingly huge library. The dark cherry shelves soared skywards towards a ceiling fresco of a great war and a castle in the center, and most of the books were only accessible by tall rolling ladders that looked almost completely unused. All of the books Shauna was going through also looked untouched, and Serena thought of her own books back at home. They were battered and bruised after years of love and rereading, and in sharp contrast it hardly seemed that the Parfum Palace's owner even looked at his books after buying them.

"Hey, Riri!" Shauna chirped, turning the book she was reading to show her friend a stained-glass-styled painting of a Lucario. It was different from regular Lucario, however, which was what Shauna was so excited about. "Look, look! Apparently Lucario was the first Mega Evolution ever!"

"Does it say what Mega Evolution actually is?"

"Just a new form of evolution, and something about stones." Shauna huffed, disappointed by the lack of information. "It's actually not that new like the prof said, but it's only recently that more was learned about it. I'm gonna show this to Calem, are you gonna be okay here?"

Serena waved her off, bunching up her skirt and curling up in the armchair. "I'll be fine, go ahead."

The brunette dashed off, curly pigtails whipping around as she started yelling for Calem as loud as she dared. Serena was left to consider how much trouble she'd be in if she tried napping in the library when the large cherry doors creaked open and a boy around Calem's age peeked in. His face lit up when he saw her, and he quickly crossed the room to take the chair Shauna abandoned.

"Excusez-moi." Disrupting Serena's thoughts of sleeping was not how you made a good first impression with her. The boy didn't seem to notice her sudden annoyance, and continued on to ask "Do you want to dance?"

"No, thank you." Serena tried to remain as polite as possible even when the boy was leaning forward into her personal bubble, but it was getting increasingly harder to keep calm.

"Just one dance," the boy insisted. He continued asking for a good fifteen minutes, and Serena felt herself growing more and more frustrated with him everytime she said no.

_Where's Shauna?_ Serena stared at the ceiling fresco, wishing that Stella was there to headbutt the guy in the gut. _And Calem? _Figuring they wouldn't come back anytime soon, Serena decided to take matters into her own hands. The next time the boy asked, she fell silent, putting on a contemplative expression like she was actually considering it.

"Actually, I was planning on looking at the gardens out back. Would you like to accompany me?" _Sucker_, she mentally snickered when the boy nodded enthusiastically. She slipped out of the armchair, ignoring the hand he offered her and putting on a fake smile as they left the library and headed towards the Parfum Palace's gardens.

Time to find the biggest fountain this palace had to offer.

* * *

_word of god/nanami says that serena used to be flirted w a lot before she moved to kalos and they would never leave her alone when she said no so eventually she got so ticked off she challenged em all to fps games and kicked ass and took names and no dude dared to treat a girl wrong ever again_

_if a girl says no she means no you giant douchemuffin im not sorry about saying this at all im angry that its a genuine problem_

_the aura core thing was. meh. i think i could have explained it a lot better but i just wanted to get this chapter over with bc some stuffs gonna happen in the next one. itll come up again later though which is why i tried going in depth on it_

_also if youre curious about the junior defenders of kalos names then i left a thing on the blog uwu_


End file.
